Hurricane Beryl struck the Texas coast early Monday after regaining strength over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico overnight, with forecasters warning that dangerous storm surges and flash flooding were expected.
The eye of the storm reached the coast at Matagorda Bay, which is about halfway between Corpus Christi and Galveston, the National Hurricane Center confirmed in an update at 5 a.m. ET.
Beryl’s renewed force included sustained winds of 80 mph and an expected storm surge that forecasters warned would threaten human life, the NHC said.
Storm surges of up to 7 feet moving to normally dry areas were possible along the coast from the Corpus Christi area to the Louisiana state line, it added.
The storm was also expected to bring a deluge along much of Texas’ Gulf Coast, with as much as 10 inches of rain expected in some locations, the center said.
