By: Elaine Xu

On July 8, more than 2.7 million people faced a power outage after Hurricane Beryl hit Matagorda, Texas. Luckily, everyone received a warning, so only three people have been killed.

A 53-year-old man and a 74-year-old woman were killed when two trees fell on their homes. The third person drowned in a tunnel while going to work, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick told reporters.

The storm blew parts of the roof covering off of Cassady’s, a local hotel in Matagorda, Texas, which was the most damaged building in the area.

Gail Cook, the fire chief, was awakened by the wind at 1:54 AM. The wind partly blew her door away, but fortunately, her metal house held up well during the storm.

Around 4:00 AM, the eye of the storm passed, stopping the wind momentarily. “You went outside, and there was no wind,” Clay Cook, Ms. Cook’s husband, said. Then, the wind started blowing again for about an hour.

Schools decided to close. Airlines canceled over 1,300 flights. Even smaller businesses, like those that deliver packages and help with backaches, decided to delay opening or to close completely for the day.

Luke Rawlings, 54, says he is happy that this hurricane didn’t hurt many people or houses. His condo also survived the disaster.

He said, “This is just par for the course here,” Mr. Rawlings said. “Every summer, we know that hurricanes are coming,” relaying that hurricanes are a normal occurrence in this area and shouldn’t be a surprise.

Link to Articles: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/07/us/texas-hurricane-beryl
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/hurricane-beryl-expected-weaken-quickly-it-churns-across-texas-2024-07-08/
Image Credit: https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/07/1151811