At least eight people were killed as Hurricane Beryl knocked down trees and caused heavy flooding in the South US and was declared a post-tropical cyclone on Tuesday.
In Texas, where Beryl made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday, at least seven people were killed, while another person died in neighboring Louisiana, officials said.
The death toll from Hurricane Beryl, which struck the Caribbean Sea last week – at one point a Category 5 storm, the most intense ever recorded – has now risen to at least 18.
About 2.2 million homes in Texas were without power on Tuesday due to damaged power grids, while temperatures were forecast to reach 41 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit), taking into account the humidity.
There were also 14,000 homes without power in Louisiana.
Air-conditioned shelters were set up for residents while crews worked to restore service.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Beryl weakened on Tuesday and was moving northeast toward Canada with winds of 30 miles (45 kilometers) per hour, and warned it could still produce flooding and tornadoes.
Houston, a sprawling city of 2.3 million, was hit hard by hurricane-force winds and flooding.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said a 53-year-old man and a 74-year-old woman were killed in separate incidents when trees fell on homes.
Later, Houston Mayor John Whitmire said in a press conference that one person was killed by lightning that possibly started a fire, while a police department employee died after drowning in floodwaters while on his way to work.
Meanwhile, in Louisiana, one death was announced by the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office after a tree fell on a home.
‘Only sometimes’
Rose Michalek, 51, told AFP that Beryl blew down fences in her south Houston neighbourhood.
“This is a lot of damage … it is much more than we expected,” he said.
Many areas of downtown Houston were flooded, including the park where 76-year-old Floyd Robinson usually walks.
“I’ve seen more of this type of harmful water than I’ve ever seen before,” the lifelong Houston resident told AFP.
“It’s only the beginning of July and it’s very rare for us to have a storm of this magnitude.”
The winds ripped off the roofs of many homes and buildings along the Texas coast.
Paths across the Caribbean
Beryl first struck Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as a Category 4 hurricane, then crossed the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, at one point strengthening to a Category 5.
The storm hit Mexico on Friday, knocking down trees and lampposts and ripping tiles off roofs.
Hurricane Beryl caused three deaths in Grenada, two in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela, and two in Jamaica.
It is the first hurricane to reach Category 4 strength in June since NHC record-keeping began, and the first to reach the highest Category 5 strength in July.
According to expert Michael Lowry, Beryl is the earliest hurricane to hit Texas in a decade.
It’s extremely rare for such a powerful storm to form so early in the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from early June to late November.
Scientists say climate change likely plays a role in the rapid intensification of storms like Beryl, because a warmer ocean has more energy to feed them.
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