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

Man watches truck float away in Houston during Tropical Storm Beryl

This was the second "unexpectedly strong storm" to batter the Houston area this year

(Image credit: Brandon Bell / Getty Images)

published 9 July 2024

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.

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.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.