High temperatures forecast for Houston area as millions remained without power
HOUSTON — Catholic aid organizations in the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese confirmed they cannot get to work just yet because of the power outage that left about 2.5 million people in the dark following Hurricane Beryl’s landfall July 8 that cut a damaging path through eastern Texas and left at least eight people dead.
A spokeswoman from Catholic Charities of Galveston-Houston said that while their buildings “are undamaged,” their “staffing and technology infrastructure does not allow us to open and serve.”
Catholic Charities spokeswoman Betsy Ballard said like the rest of the area, the archdiocese’s charitable arm’s phone service and internet are having issues and hindering communications between staff and clients. She said they were hopeful power would be restored within the next few days. By then they would typically be able to provide food, water, cleaning supplies and financial assistance, she said.
The Knights of Columbus in the area were also dealing with downed communications towers, according to the Knights’ Texas State Council’s disaster relief coordinator.
Society of St. Vincent de Paul Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Executive Director Ann Schorno said the biggest challenge as of July 9 was that well over 75% of the Greater Houston area was still without power. She said the society would be collaborating with the archdiocese, Catholic Charities and other Catholic organizations with immediate attention toward “making sure everybody is safe; and getting out the resources for cleanup, cooling centers and that sort of relief to be able to help individuals right now.”
A drone view shows a destroyed house in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl in Surfside Beach, Texas, July 8, 2024. Beryl slammed into Texas early that morning, knocking out power to nearly 3 million homes and businesses, unleashing heavy rain and causing multiple deaths as it moved east and later weakened to a tropical depression, the National Hurricane Center said.
Schorno said right now the Society is working on their website so they can direct clients or those in need to places where they can receive emergency services. She anticipated they would also be serving others with emergency financial assistance.
According to the power outage tracking website poweroutage.us, more than 2.1 million customers were still without power in Texas in the early afternoon July 9. In a July 8 announcement, CenterPoint Energy, Greater Houston’s main energy supplier, said capacity would be restored to 1 million customers by July 10.
As Beryl moved through east Texas bound for the Midwest and Canada, weather officials issued a heat advisory for southeast Texas residents for July 8, warning of soaring temperatures reaching heat index values of 105 degrees Fahrenheit in south Houston.
Close to a foot of rain fell in just under 12 hours in parts of the Greater Houston area when Beryl pushed into the southeast Gulf Coast of Texas making landfall near Matagorda, Texas, in the early morning hours of July 8. By 12 p.m. that day, more than 3 million homes and businesses were without power.
Beryl, which at its peak was a Category 5 storm and the earliest in the season on record, first lashed Grenada July 1 with Category 4 hurricane winds of 150 mph and then slammed into Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula July 5 as a slightly weaker Category 2 storm.
In Freeport, where St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish serves many oil and gas workers employed at the nearby petrochemical refineries, residents were surprised by Beryl’s intensity as a Category 1 storm. Wind gusts of 94 mph flipped 18-wheelers and RV homes, knocking down billboards and tearing apart roofs and walls.
Hunkered down in his beachside home where he rode out the storm in the bathroom with his dog Shiloh, Jimmy Beal, a 35-year resident of nearby Surfside Beach, shook his head as he told Austin’s KXAN-TV that he thought he could handle the storm.
“Thank God, I did a lot of praying last night, trust me. … I’ve never seen the wind blow that hard here. Never,” he said. “That was no ‘Cat 1.’ I’ve been through hurricanes before. I ain’t never felt this house shake like that.”
Beryl’s rains and flooding pushed bayous and rivers past their banks and into nearby streets and highways, making parts of several major Houston highways into sudden vast lakes.
Stranded drivers prompted high water rescues around the region. Drone footage showed first responders using a firetruck’s ladder to reach a man trapped on his truck surrounded by rapidly moving, white-capped water on a major Houston freeway.
Multiple deaths have been attributed to Beryl, with at least eight in Houston. Among them was one person who drowned in his car on his way to work at the Houston Police Department; two others were killed when a tree fell on their homes, and another died in a house fire.
According to reports, Hurricane Beryl’s initial massive size, followed by explosive growth to a Category 5 hurricane on July 2, made it the most powerful hurricane ever observed this early in an Atlantic hurricane season. Only one other Category 5 storm, Hurricane Emily in 2005, was known to have ever formed in July. Weather officials said “exceptionally warm ocean temperatures” were effectively rocket fuel for Beryl’s rapid development.
Beryl was the second named storm of the 2024 hurricane season and had major impacts on Jamaica and the Cayman Islands as it headed to Mexico before making landfall in Texas.
Early reports were that the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, which are part of Grenada, may have taken the brunt of the destruction when Beryl struck the island.
