Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby, who was in Surfside Beach as Beryl arrived with damaging storm surge, highlights flooding caused by the storm in Houston.
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00:00East Texas is at risk for severe weather and you know we've checked in with storm chaser an extreme storm chaser Aaron Rigsby
00:07Multiple times over the course of this storm from the islands and now into Houston, Texas said Aaron
00:14You've been with this storm for quite some time. What's the flooding status there in Harris County?
00:21Yes, good evening Jeff as you can see right here behind me
00:23This has been a situation all across Houston this morning afternoon and unfortunately into the evening hours
00:28Right here is just two of over a dozen vehicles stuck on this street alone
00:33This is the exit 58 at I-45 in downtown, Houston
00:37This is it's it's remarkable to see a lot of the people still trying to push those limits and drive through this flooded water
00:44Even with all of these cars sitting here
00:46No trucks are working their way in to try and keep up with all the cars moving through
00:50But as you can imagine with this busy Monday evening, it's kind of an impossible task
00:55Absolutely, Aaron, can you talk us talk to us about what you experienced earlier this morning when the storm made landfall?
01:02Where were you and what was that like from your perspective?
01:06Yeah, absolutely
01:07So I was in Surfside Beach, Texas this morning where we rode out the northeast quadrant of this hurricane
01:12Which is the most powerful part of the hurricane as far as wind speeds go and we were targeting the storm surge
01:17Which is exactly what we got and unfortunately it took a really big impact
01:22Into the city there in the island
01:24There was multiple homes that were completely destroyed by the winds and those that survived the winds were heavily damaged
01:30especially in the lower areas by that storm surge in the waves that rolled through and I tell you this hurricane in particular was
01:36One where it just proves how different it is when a hurricane is intensifying upon landfall versus weakening
01:42This may have only been a cat one, but it packed a punch with winds well over 90 miles an hour
01:47We'll wait for NHC to confirm it
01:49But I'm pretty sure we had winds over a hundred miles an hour or several occasions through that eyewall
01:53We talked a little bit about that with chief meteorologist Bernie Reno when you and I were on with him on Friday morning
01:59About sometimes it's about kind of the vector of the storm in terms of is it in a strengthening or a weakening phase?
02:05We saw this under punch in places like Mexico
02:09But it may have exceeded its true category one rating in some fashion in some forms in parts of Texas
02:17There at least with the gusts of wind
02:19So thanks again for that report there Aaron Aaron Rigsby joining us live from Houston, Texas with the ongoing flood situation
02:25And Aaron we're going to check back in with you again later on
02:29I guess that we have lots to talk about here with the flooding and the storm surge and also a lot of power outages here