Hurricane Beryl slams into Texas coast

Officials order evacuations in beach towns in the storm’s path but fear not enough people have left.

Hurricane Beryl has hit the coast of Texas, where major oil ports have closed, flights have been cancelled and some residents of beach towns have evacuated from their homes.

The hurricane made landfall on Monday in the town of Matagorda with winds of 80 miles per hour (130 kilometres per hour), said the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Registered as a Category 1 hurricane, Beryl is expected to cause “considerable flash and urban flooding” but will likely weaken to a tropical storm on Monday and to a tropical depression on Tuesday, according to the NHC.

Before reaching Texas, Beryl had swept through Jamaica, Grenada, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, at times reaching Category 5 wind strengths, the highest level. It toppled buildings and power lines and killed at least 11 people.

The storm weakened after cutting through the Caribbean but resurged into a Category 1 hurricane as it crossed the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.