JUST IN: National Hurricane Center Gives Latest Update On Tropical Storm Beryl As It Nears Texas

3 months ago

National Hurricane Center Director Dr. Michael Brennan provides the latest updates on Tropical Storm Beryl.

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Transcript

00:00Good morning, everybody. This is Mike Brennan here at the National Hurricane Center. It's

00:03just after 10 a.m. Central Daylight Time on Sunday, July 7th, coming on with the latest

00:08on intensifying Tropical Storm Beryl, which you can see here on satellite imagery centered

00:12off the Texas coast, just about 200 miles southeast of Corpus Christi, also about 200

00:17miles south-southeast of Matagorda. Beryl is now moving northwestward at about 10 miles

00:21per hour. We've had the Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft in there this morning.

00:25They've shown data that they've collected has indicated that the maximum sustained winds

00:29have come up a little bit, now around 65 miles per hour. And as you can see on radar,

00:34the tropical storm is getting better organized, and we are expecting Beryl to regain hurricane

00:38strength before it reaches the Texas coast. You can see shower and thunderstorm activity

00:42beginning to wrap up here, and we're seeing the formation of a partial eyewall but not

00:46completely closed yet, and that is consistent with what the aircraft is finding as well.

00:52But we are expecting Beryl to continue moving on to the northwest and then turn northward,

00:56making landfall somewhere along the middle Texas coast overnight tonight, or early Monday

01:01morning. And again, as we had typical, we have multiple hazards associated with Beryl.

01:06Conditions are going to deteriorate pretty quickly along the coast of Texas as we go

01:10through the afternoon and certainly through the evening and overnight hours. You can see

01:13some of the outer rain bands from Beryl already beginning to affect portions of southeastern

01:18Texas, the middle Texas coast, and deep south Texas down near Brownsville, heavy rain occurring

01:23along the immediate coast there. So we're going to see a storm surge, water levels begin

01:27to rise late this evening and overnight, hurricane force winds reach the coast overnight tonight,

01:33and then a widespread heavy rainfall event across much of eastern Texas developing over

01:37the next day or two. We'll first start off with the storm surge hazard. We have a storm

01:41surge warning in effect for much of the coast of Texas from the north entrance of the South

01:45Padre Island National Seashore, now all the way over to Sabine Pass, which is the border

01:50of Texas and Louisiana. Most concerned about this area from Mesquite Bay eastward, where

01:54we could see four to six feet above of inundation above ground level in places like Port O'Connor,

02:00Matagorda Bay, all the way up to San Luis Pass. So again, this is the inundation in

02:05here somewhere reaching as high as six feet above ground level. So life threatening inundation

02:10expected somewhere in this region. Again, if you've been asked to evacuate and there

02:14have been some evacuation orders issued along the coast of Texas, please comply with those

02:18orders. You still have time to get out now before the water levels begin to rise and

02:22before the winds pick up later today. East of San Luis Pass, we're also very concerned

02:26about the Galveston Bay area, Boulevard Peninsula, over to just west of Sabine Pass, where somewhere

02:31in this area we expect to see up to five feet of inundation above ground level as that onshore

02:36flow blows water from the Gulf of Mexico up into places like Galveston Bay. So be on the

02:40lookout for the potential for significant storm surge in that region as well. Moving

02:45on to the wind front, we have hurricane warnings in effect from Baffin Bay up to San Luis Pass,

02:51so just west of Galveston, including Corpus Christi, Victoria. Most concerned about this

02:56region from Mesquite Bay up to San Luis Pass, where we expect to see the core of Barrow

03:01move onshore overnight tonight and early Monday morning. We can see in the blue tropical storm

03:07warnings in effect for places like Galveston, Houston, Beaumont, Port Arthur, all the way

03:11over to the Louisiana border, and also inland as well along the I-10 corridor to the west

03:16of Houston. Could see some damaging winds in those areas as well, especially some damage

03:21to tree limbs, some power outages. Most concerned about the potential for wind damage here along

03:25the immediate coast in that hurricane warning area, however. And we are expecting the tropical

03:31storm force winds to arrive along the coast within the warning area by late this afternoon

03:35or this evening, so everybody should be completing their preparations in terms of getting ready

03:40for the storm and be sheltering in your safe place certainly no later than nightfall this

03:44evening. Prepare to shelter in place all through the night tonight and into Monday morning.

03:50If we look at the forecast, again, we're expecting the center of Barrow to reach the coast early

03:54Monday morning within the hurricane warning area and then turn northeastward, taking the

03:57center across eastern Texas as the system weakens to a tropical storm and then as a

04:02tropical depression, bringing the threat of heavy rainfall into portions of the Arklatex

04:07and into portions of the Mississippi Valley as we go through the week. So let's touch

04:10on the rainfall threat next. This is going to be a widespread heavy rainfall event with

04:155 to 10 inches of rainfall expected over a wide swath of the Gulf Coast, middle and upper

04:20Texas coast and east Texas, with the potential for some areas seeing as much as 15 inches

04:25of rainfall. Very concerned about this region between, say, just east of Corpus Christi

04:31up to the Galveston area where we're expecting the core of Barrow to move inland overnight

04:35tonight, expecting very heavy rain there and then a swath of heavy rainfall along and

04:40east of I-45 to the east of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, west of Shreveport, places like

04:44Tyler, Palestine, and then heavy rainfall extending up into the Arklatex region as well.

04:50You can see these are the flood and flash flood watches that are in effect for places

04:53like Houston, Galveston, Bryan College Station, up to east of Dallas, and I expect these watches

04:59to be extended eastward as we go through the day today. So now today through early tomorrow

05:05morning, the greatest risk for flash flooding is going to be along the coast where Barrow

05:08is expected to make landfall from that Mesquite Bay region up to San Luis Pass, just west

05:14of Galveston. As we go from Monday into Tuesday, however, that risk of flash flooding, this

05:19is a level 3 out of 4 risk, is going to include places like Houston, Bryan College Station,

05:24up into northeastern Texas, with a broader level 2 out of 4 risk of flash flooding extending

05:29to the east side of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, places like Waco, and then on into southwestern

05:34Louisiana, Shreveport, up into Texarkana and the Arklatex region. So again, widespread

05:39heavy rainfall threat and flooding threat that will play out over the next couple of

05:43days. The tornado threat is going to be highest in southeast Texas as we go from late this

05:47afternoon into tonight and early Monday morning, so places like Beaumont and into Cameron Parish,

05:53Louisiana, Houston, Galveston, down to just to the east of Victoria. We could see tornadoes

05:58spinning up in the outer rain bands of Barrel as those move onshore later today and tonight.

06:04I do want to broadly back out and talk about the rip current threat along much of the north

06:08coast and west coast of the Gulf of Mexico. You can see a high risk of rip currents in

06:12the Florida Panhandle and dangerous ocean conditions across the Mississippi, Louisiana,

06:18and the Texas coast, so if you are out at the beach, especially over here on the eastern

06:22side of the Gulf of Mexico where the weather is a little better, I know it's very hot,

06:25people are outdoors, the ocean may be very dangerous, so please heed any warning flags

06:30or any advice given by your lifeguards or local officials. Don't become a statistic.

06:34The ocean can be very dangerous as the large waves generated by Barrel reach the Gulf coast

06:39and these dangerous ocean conditions are going to continue for the next couple of days.

06:43So let's wrap up just again, reemphasizing the key points. We have the danger of life-threatening

06:47storm surge along the coast of Texas. Most concerned about that area from Mesquite Bay

06:52eastward up to Sabine Pass, including Galveston Bay, Mesquite Bay, Matagorda Bay area where

06:59we could see in some places up to six feet of inundation above ground level. Please follow

07:03any evacuation orders that you've been given by your local officials. You still have time

07:07to get out ahead of the impacts of the storm. We're expecting damaging hurricane force winds

07:12along portions of the Texas coast tonight and early Monday, especially in that area

07:17from Mesquite Bay up to San Luis Pass where we think the core of Barrel is going to move

07:20on shore. Again, preparation should be rushed to completion before tropical storm force

07:25winds begin later today. And then we're looking at again widespread flash and urban flooding,

07:30some of which could be considerable in nature across portions of the middle and upper Texas

07:34coast, eastern Texas with that heavy rainfall that's going to play out beginning late tonight,

07:39continuing through Monday and Monday night as Barrel moves inland across Texas. So again,

07:45make sure you have multiple ways to receive emergency information, especially as we go

07:49through the overnight hours. Make sure you have wireless emergency alerts turned on on

07:53your cell phone so you can receive those flash flood and tornado warnings. Make sure you

07:57have a NOAA weather radio. Again, make sure you have, especially in the area where we

08:00could see Barrel make landfall, we could see some power outages. Make sure again you have

08:04your hurricane supplies, several days worth of food, water, emergency supplies, medicines,

08:09batteries, everything you're going to need to keep yourself safe for the next several

08:12days. So we'll be coming back later on this afternoon with another update on Barrel and

08:17you can always get the latest information here at hurricanes.gov and from your local

08:21National Weather Service office at weather.gov. Thanks for joining us. I'm Mike Brennan here

08:25at the National Hurricane Center.

JUST IN: National Hurricane Center Gives Latest Update On Tropical Storm Beryl As It Nears Texas

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