Hurricane Beryl Kills 3 in the US, Leaves Jamaica with Food Shortage

Hurricane Beryl has now become Storm Beryl as it weakened on its way to the US. However, it left a trail of devastation from Jamaica to Mexico to Texas. Many have already died from the storm as it caused storm surges, flooding, landslides, high winds, and more.

Beryl was the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record. However, it has weakened from a hurricane after it devastated the Texas coastal town of Matagorda with dangerous storm surges and heavy rain. The storm has caused much damage in Texas already, with flooding and power outages.

Despite weakening from a hurricane to just a storm, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that Beryl could still lead to conditions that may lead to tornadoes forming in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

As Hurricane Beryl moved inland into the US mainland, it rapidly weakened. However, in Texas, it has already killed three people. Two had trees fall on them; the first one was a 53-year-old man, and the second one was a 74-year-old woman. The third fatality drowned because of the storm, local officials say.

"Life-threatening storm surge and heavy rainfall is ongoing across portions of Texas. Damaging winds ongoing along the coast, with strong winds moving inland," said the NHC in a statement.

Beryl has also impacted the oil and gas production in Texas, which is considered to be the biggest producer of oil and natural gas. The storm has forced major oil-shipping ports around Corpus Christi, Galveston, and Houston to close before the storm hit. This is expected to disrupt crude oil exports, along with shipments of crude to refineries and motor fuel from the plants.

The Corpus Christi Ship Channel has already re-opened, but the one in the Port of Houston is expected to resume operations around Tuesday afternoon. However, the Marathon Petroleum Corp's refinery in Texas City, Texas suffered a power outage.

Jamaica Residents Facing Food Shortages After Hurricane Beryl

The worst hit by Beryl when it was still a hurricane is Jamaica, which has been devastated by strong winds, lashing rain, flooding, and more. The Caribbean country was hit so badly that it is now in danger of having a food shortage as the storm devastated its agricultural sector.

Jamaica Agriculture Minister Floyd Green revealed that there had been a lot of damage to the country's crops. These include damage to farms that produce some of the country's most important staples, such as yams, cassava, breadfruit, ackee, mangoes, and bananas.

Speed of How Gast Hurricane Beryl Intensified Shocked Experts

When Beryl became a hurricane, it developed rapidly, faster than what many experts had previously expected, breaking records by becoming not just the earliest Category 4 hurricane in history but also the earliest Category 5 hurricane in history.

"Beryl is an extremely dangerous and rare hurricane for this time of year in this area," said Michael Lowry, a hurricane and storm surge expert. He noted that the rapid development of Beryl marked a "very serious threat" and that Beryl being "Unusual is an understatement. Beryl is already a historic hurricane."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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