Beryl kills 4, knocks out power to 2.7M in Texas

What happened

Hurricane Beryl made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast as a Category 1 storm early Monday then tore through Houston as a tropical storm, killing at least six people and leaving 2.7 million customers without power — or air conditioning. Flooding and high winds submerged roads, shut oil ports and canceled hundreds of flights.

Who said what

Houston was in the "dirty side of a dirty hurricane," Mayor John Whitmire said as the storm passed just west of downtown, heading toward Louisiana and Arkansas.

By the time it hit Texas, The Associated Press said, Beryl "was far less powerful than the Category 5 behemoth that tore a deadly path of destruction through parts of Mexico and the Caribbean," leaving 11 people dead and several islands in ruins. But its "relatively modest official strength undersold its power," The New York Times said. And this was the second "unexpectedly strong storm" to batter the Houston area this year, following a tempest in May that left at least seven people dead. 

What next?

Beryl, the earliest Category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record, was an "ill omen" for the coming hurricane season, the Times said. It is "expected to move over Arkansas and enter the lower Ohio Valley by Tuesday evening," USA Today said.

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