Hurricane Beryl weakens to tropical depression after causing 18 deaths and leaving nearly 3 million homes without power in Texas

The total death toll from Beryl rose to 18 after eight people died Monday in the United States, when it entered as a hurricane, causing flooding and wreckage, but was downgraded to a tropical depression.

In Texas, whose coasts Beryl hit early Monday morning, two people were killed by trees falling on their homes, according to Ed Gonzalez, Harris County Sherriff, the jurisdiction for the city of Houston.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire reported two other deaths: one following a fire that may have been caused by lightning and that of a civilian member of the Houston Police who was trapped in a flood while on his way to work.

Meanwhile, in the Benton, Louisiana area, a resident died after a tree fell on her home as a result of the storm's passage, a local authority said.

On its route through the Caribbean last week, the phenomenon had already caused another 10 victims: three in Grenada, where it made landfall on Monday, two in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica.

On Monday, Houston, a city of 2.3 million people and the most populous in Texas, received heavy rains and gusty winds. Multiple floods were recorded throughout the city.

Trees falling on vehicles or interrupting roads, flooded roads with cars trapped, downed power poles, debris and destruction were part of the devastating scenery that Beryl left in its wake.

Rose Michalec, 51, lives on the south side of Houston and this Monday the high winds collapsed her backyard fence and those of several of her neighbors.

"I woke up and then saw the storm (...) We noticed the fences were down. For a Category 1 storm, it's quite a bit of damage, it's more than we expected," she told AFP.

In downtown Houston's Buffalo Bayou Park, several areas were completely taken over by water. Floyd Robinson, 76 years old usually comes to walk here.

"I'm seeing more of this kind of damaging water than ever before. It's only the beginning of July and it's very rare for us to have a storm of this magnitude. But the meteorologists have told us we're going to have a lot of them," he commented.

Tornado warnings were issued for parts of Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, which were being deactivated as the storm progressed and lost strength.

The weather services recorded five tornadoes in Texas on Monday.

Losing strength

Beryl, which in its beginnings a week ago became a powerful hurricane with winds of 155 mph, was downgraded to a tropical storm last Friday after making landfall in the Yucatan Peninsula, where it left material damage.

But on Sunday night, on its path to the United States, it regained strength before entering Texas.

Beryl made landfall early Monday morning near Matagorda, a seaside resort located in the county of the same name, southwest of Houston, with winds near 80 mph, framed as a category 1 hurricane (with winds between 74 to 95 mph).

As predicted, it lost strength hours after entering the mainland and is now a tropical depression.

"Beryl is moving northeastward at 26 km/h (...) On the forecast track, the center of Beryl will move over eastern Texas on Monday, then across the Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley on Tuesday and Wednesday," the latest report from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported.

"Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 55 km/h, with higher gusts. Beryl is forecast to weaken further and is expected to become a post-tropical cyclone on Tuesday," the agency said.

No power

Despite losing strength, Beryl was still producing flash flooding and tornadoes in east Texas and western Louisiana, the NHC said.

On Monday, more than 2.6 million customers were still without power in Texas, according to poweroutage.us, as the storm affected transmission lines.

Operators were working to restore service, which could take several days, officials admitted. Crews began picking up debris.

Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport said several flights were being canceled due to the bad weather. This Monday, the Flight Aware portal reported 1,169 cancellations at this terminal.

Images Monday of hurricane hunters from the town of Sargent, between Corpus Christi and Galveston, near Matagorda, showed homes surrounded by water.

Some coastal cities had already evacuated their citizens in advance. In Jamaica Beach, a city on Galveston Island, there was also flooding.

Beryl is the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, which runs from early June to late November, and impressed experts with its intensity.