Tropical Storm Beta makes landfall in Texas as heavy rain batters the Gulf Coast and threatens to bring a four-foot surge to the area already reeling from a busy hurricane season
Tropical Storm Beta made landfall on the Texas coast on Monday night as parts of the state and neighboring Louisiana braced for flooding and a storm surge of up to four feet.
Tropical Storm Beta reached the southern tip of the Matagorda Peninsula near Port O'Connor at about 10pm CST, according to the National Weather Service.
Beta's winds were weakening as it got closer to the Gulf Coast - an area that has already been drenched and battered during this year's exceptionally busy hurricane season - a region as forecasters said it was not expected to strengthen into a hurricane.
But its path along the Texas coast over the next couple of days once it gets inland could produce bands of showers with heavy rainfall, forecasters said.
Rain from Beta was already coming down Monday in the Houston area as high waves battered the seawall in Port O'Connor.
'This still is probably the most uncertain part of the forecast,' Dan Reilly, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in the Houston-Galveston office, said about rainfall from Beta.
Earlier predictions of up to 20 inches in some areas were downgraded Monday to up to 15 inches. Texas coastal counties were most likely to see 4 to 6 inches with 2 to 4 inches farther inland, Reilly said.
Storm surge up to 4 feet was forecast from Port Aransas to Sabine Pass in Texas.
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Tropical Storm Beta made landfall on the Texas coast on Monday night as parts of the state and neighboring Louisiana braced for flooding and a storm surge of up to four feet
Rain from Beta was already coming down Monday in the Houston area as high waves battered the seawall in Port O'Connor
Water rises from the storm surge of Tropical Storm Beta in The Strand as the storm made landfall in Galveston, Texas on Monday night
Dario Romero kayaks to his house in Galveston, Texas on Monday as a tidal surge from Tropical Storm Beta inundated the low-lying areas around Galveston County
Michael Koudelka and Carol Kelly walk through tidal flood waters on East Hunter Drive in the unincorporated community of Freddiesville near Bayou Vista, Texas on Monday
A truck drives through a flooded street in Galveston, Texas on Monday as the tropical storm prepared to make landfall
A barricade floats along flooded Strand Street near 25th Street in Galveston, Texas on Monday
Images showed how bad Strand Street in Galveston, Texas, was flooded by the storm on Monday
Texas is still bracing for heavy rainfall as the storm prepares to make landfall Monday evening
Beta's maximum sustained winds were 45mph Monday afternoon. The storm was moving west-northwest at 7mph at about 1pm, forecasters said. It was about 45 miles southeast of Port O'Connor, Texas.
After making landfall, Beta is expected to move northeast along the coast and head into Louisiana sometime mid-week, forecasters said.
Flash flooding was possible in Arkansas and Mississippi as the system moves farther inland.
In Galveston, an island city southeast of Houston, there was already some street flooding from rising tides and part of a popular fishing pier collapsed due to strong waves.
On Monday, Gov Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 29 Texas counties ahead of Beta's arrival.
Tropical Storm Beta reached the southern tip of the Matagorda Peninsula near Port O'Connor at about 10pm CST on Monday, according to the National Weather Service
A storm surge up to four feet was forecast from San Luis Pass to Sabine Pass in Texas
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Forecasters said Beta was not expected to bring the same amount of rainfall that Texas experienced during either Hurricane Harvey in 2017 or Tropical Storm Imelda last year.
Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rain on Houston and caused $125billion in damage in Texas. Imelda, which hit Southeast Texas, was one of the wettest cyclones on record.
The first rain bands from Beta reached the Texas coast on Sunday, but the heaviest rain wasn't expected to arrive until late Monday into Tuesday.
In low-lying Galveston, which has seen more than its share of tropical weather over the years, officials didn't expect to issue a mandatory evacuation order but they advised people to have supplies ready in case they have to stay home for several days if roads are flooded.
'We're not incredibly worried,' Galveston resident Nancy Kitcheo said Sunday.
Kitcheo, 49, and her family had evacuated last month when forecasts suggested Hurricane Laura could make landfall near Galveston, but they're planning to buy supplies and wait out Beta.
Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rain on Houston and caused $125billion in damage in Texas. Imelda, which hit Southeast Texas, was one of the wettest cyclones on record
A 'No Wake' sign is seen partially submerged in tidal flooding from Tropical Storm Beta in Jamaica Beach, Texas on Monday
A section of the 61st Street Fishing Pier rests on the beach near Central City Boulevard in Galveston, Texas, on Monday
Hight tide begins at the Light House District ahead of Tropical Storm Beta on Monday
A man is seen with his dog as heavy rainfall flooded South Live Oak Street in Rockport, Texas, on Monday
A DQ Restaurant's parking area experienced flooding ahead of Tropical Storm Beta Monday in Kemah, Texax
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Laura ended up making landfall in neighboring Louisiana.
Kitcheo, whose home is 18 feet above the ground on stilts, said she expected her street to be impassable as water from rising tides was already flooding neighboring roadways on Sunday.
'This has definitely been more stressful, this hurricane season,' she said.
Galveston, which has about 50,000 residents, was the site of the deadliest hurricane in US history, a 1900 storm that killed an estimated 6,000 people.
The city was also hit hard in 2008 by Hurricane Ike, which caused about $30billion in damage. Kitcheo's previous home was heavily damaged during Ike and had to be torn down.
Forecasters ran out of traditional storm names on Friday, forcing the use of the Greek alphabet for only the second time since the 1950s.
Steve and Linda Buser of Beaumont check out the rough surf on the beach near the intersection of Highway 124 and Highway 87 on the Bolivar Peninsula, Texas, on Sunday
A house sits on the beach on Bolivar Peninsula, Texas, buffeted by the winds and rough surf, on Sunday
A Corpus Christi police officer placed a barricade to close Laguna Shores Boulevard due to flooding on Sunday in Corpus Christi, Texas
Water spills over South Padre Island Drive Intracoastal Turnaround on Sunday in Corpus Christi, Texas
Beta is forecast to dump heavy rain on the southwestern corner of Louisiana three weeks after the same area got pounded by Hurricane Laura.
More than 41,000 homes and businesses remain without electricity, and Beta could add to that figure by toppling trees that were left leaning by the previous storm, said meteorologist Donald Jones of the National Weather Service office in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
After it reached Texas on Monday night, Beta became the ninth named storm to make landfall in the continental US in 2020 - tying a record set in 1916, according to Colorado State hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
Parts of the Alabama coast and Florida Panhandle were still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Sally, which roared ashore Wednesday, causing at least two deaths.
The hurricane caused about $2billion in privately insured losses from wind and storm surge, Boston-based disaster modeling firm Karen Clark & Company estimated.
That doesn't include uninsured losses, the National Flood Insurance Program claims or damage to offshore property, like oil rigs.
Meanwhile, tropical storm winds and big waves battered Bermuda on Monday as Hurricane Teddy approached.
The Category 2 storm was expected to pass east of the wealthy British territory as it headed to Nova Scotia, which was under a tropical storm warning from Lower East Pubnico to Main-a-Dieu.
Teddy was located about 160 miles southeast of Bermuda on Monday morning. It had maximum sustained winds of 100mph and was moving north-northeast at 9mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The large hurricane was expected to pass some 120 miles east-southeast of Bermuda around noon on Monday at its closest point.
The government closed all air and sea ports, schools and government offices for the second time in a week.
Hurricane Paulette made landfall in Bermuda on September 14 as a Category 1 storm and then strengthened into a Category 2, knocking down trees and leaving thousands without power.