Beryl downgraded from hurricane to tropical storm after battering Texas: Live updates

Drone footage captured on Monday 8 July shows water flooding the city of Houston after the deadly Hurricane Beryl ripped through southeast Texas.

The death toll in the United States after Beryl ripped through, causing flooding and knocking down trees, has risen to around eight, reports say.

Three people have died in Montgomery County in Texas as a result of Beryl’s power, county officials have said.

This included a man in his 40s who was in a tractor when a tree fell and struck him, and a man and a woman also killed who were “discovered in a tent in a wooded area in Magnolia,” the county officials reportedly said, according to CNN.

Four people have been confirmed to have lost their lives in Harris County, Texas.

A civilian employee of the Houston Police Department, was killed when he became trapped in high water under a highway overpass on his way to work, Houston Mayor John Whitmire said.

Whitmire also said they “lost someone to fire in southeast Houston due to lightning; we believe it’s storm-related,” he said at a news conference Monday.

Two others were killed – 53-year-old man and a 74-year-old woman – when trees fell on homes in separate incidents, local officials confirmed.

A grandchild called 911 to report that a tree had fallen through the 74-year-old grandmother’s roof of her home in Harris County, according to the Harris County Constable Precinct 4. An investigation is underway.

They unnamed 53-year-old man was reportedly sitting in his house in Humble, Texa, with his family on Monday when an oak tree fell on the roof and hit the rafters, causing the structure to fall on the man, authorities said. His wife and children are unharmed.

The eighth death occurred in Louisiana after a woman died when a tree fell on her home in Bossier Parish, the sheriff’s office confirmed.

Hurricane Beryl had already caused at least 10 people as it traversed through the Caribbean last week.

Beryl continues to weaken into a tropical depression, sustaining maximum wind speeds of 35mph (55km/h) – around half of what it was packing earlier on Monday.

Beryl weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm, now down into a depression on Monday. To upgrade into a tropical storm, the storm must sustain maximum winds between 39mph and 73mph.

There is no further coastal watches or warnings in effect, but the National Hurricane Center still warned at 10pm CDT on Monday of flooding rains and a risk of tornadoes across portions of eastern Texas, western Louisiana, and Arkansas.

As of Monday evening, water levels remained elevated along the Texas coast, but should have receded overnight, as well as surf swells generated by Beryl expected to gradually decrease in the next day or so.

A tornado risk will spread into southeast Missouri, northern Tennessee, Kentucky, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, and Ohio on Tuesday.

Heavy rainfall of three to five inches, with locally higher amounts, is expected across portions of far southeastern Oklahoma, Arkansas and southern Missouri through Tuesday, with local flash and urban flooding expected.

Power started to come back for some of the millions of homes and businesses left in the dark when Hurricane Beryl slammed into the Houston area, while the weakened storm moved east, spawning suspected tornadoes and causing more damage.

After a peak Monday of more than 2.7 million customers around Houston without power, the numbers improved to more than 2.4 million homes and businesses lacking electricity by Monday night, according to PowerOutage.us.

The lack of cooling to people’s homes, downed power lines and non-functioning traffic lights led officials to ask residents to stay home if possible.

“Houstonians need to know we’re working around the clock so you will be safe,” Houston mayor John Whitmire said, urging residents to also know the dangers of high water, to stay hydrated and to check on their neighbours.

Millions of people in Texas could be left without power for days after Hurricane Beryl’s deadly track inland.

Meanwhile, heat alerts are in place for millions of Americans across the country.

Battered by multiple extreme weather conditions, people in Texas could be at increased risk of heat exhaustion, experts warn.

“The heat can be dangerous for people who do not have power as they work to clean up debris and repair storm damage,” said AccuWeather’s chief meteorologist, Jon Porter.

“Everyone dealing with the Texas heat who lost power needs to have access to shaded areas and drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.”

“People understandably get desperate for power when those outages last days or weeks.” “We’ve seen tragic cases of people being hurt or killed when they try to use portable generators after a hurricane landfall.

“It’s crucial for people to use extreme caution when operating generators and make sure there is proper ventilation away from doors and windows to your home.”

Beryl has weakened ever so slightly, meaning it is no longer considered a hurricane, and is now a tropical storm.

The National Hurricane Center has reported that Beryl is packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 70mph (110km/h) as it approaches Houston, currently 20 miles (30km) west-northwest of the city.

To be considered a hurricane, Beryl would to need to sustain at least 74mph (119km/h) to be a Category 1 hurricane, according to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.

Despite not being a hurricane anymore, the NHC and local officials still warn that the weather conditions are dangerous, with life-threatening storm surge, damaging wind gusts and considerable flash flooding that are continuing across portions of southeast Texas.