After crossing the Caribbean, storm Beryl hit Texas on Monday, bringing heavy rains that caused flooding and massive power outages, and caused the death of at least five people in the southern United States.
Four people have died in the Houston area, according to the mayor of the large South Texas city and local police.
A municipal police officer died in the floods while trying to get to work, Mayor John Whitmire said, adding that another person died in a fire caused by lightning.
Two other deaths linked to falling trees had been announced earlier Monday by the authorities in the region.
Further north, in Benton County, Louisiana, a woman died after a tree fell on her home, local police said on Facebook.
Once classified as a hurricane, Beryl caused at least 10 deaths in the Caribbean and Venezuela before it hit the United States.
During its passage through the Antilles, it even reached category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, the highest.
It was downgraded to a tropical storm on Monday, with weakening winds, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
But the danger remains. Five tornadoes were recorded on Monday by the weather service in Texas and the NHC has warned of the risk of marine submersion on the coasts.
Early phenomenon
In Houston, uprooted trees and power poles blocked roads, and some lanes remained impassable due to flooding.
“For a Category 1 storm, this is a lot of damage, it’s more than we expected,” Rose Michalec, a resident of the town, told AFP. Her house’s fence, like those of her neighbors, was torn off by the recent wind gusts.
“It’s only the beginning of July and it’s very rare that we get a storm of this magnitude,” said Floyd Robinson, 76, surveying the storm damage in a downtown park that was partly submerged by floodwaters.
In Texas, more than 2.4 million homes and businesses remained without power Monday evening, according to the website poweroutage.us, and residents were evacuated.
At the city’s main airport, more than 1,100 flights were cancelled on Monday, according to the FlightAware website, with the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) warning of tornadoes.
Acting state Gov. Dan Patrick urged Texans to stay alert, listen to local authorities and leave the danger zone if possible.
“This storm will be deadly to people in its direct path,” Patrick said at a news conference hosted by state emergency services. “Believe me, you don’t want to be in a Category 1 hurricane,” he added.
The White House said Sunday it was monitoring the situation.
According to the NHC, Beryl is expected to move toward eastern Texas on Monday, before continuing toward Mississippi and Ohio on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“A steady weakening is expected” in the coming hours, the forecast service said in its latest bulletin.
It is extremely rare for a hurricane of this strength to arrive this early in the season. Beryl is the earliest hurricane to hit the United States in 10 years, according to hurricane expert Michael Lowry.
Scientists say climate change, by warming ocean waters, makes it more likely that storms will intensify rapidly and increases the risk of more powerful hurricanes.
