Many victims in Texas
Although hurricane "Beryl" has lost some of its strength, it still caused a lot of damage and power outages in the US state of Texas, where it struck on Monday. The category 1 hurricane also killed several people in the south of the USA.
At least seven people were killed in Texas, for example by falling trees, reported the Houston Chronicle newspaper and CNN, citing official sources. Among the dead was a police officer in the Houston metropolis who drowned in his car on his way to work, Mayor John Whitmire announced at a press conference. At least one person died in the neighboring state of Louisiana.
Millions of households without power
More than 2.3 million households were still without power on Tuesday night (local time), according to data from the website poweroutage.us. According to the lieutenant governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, almost three million households were without power on Monday. It will probably take several days before the supply is restored, the operating company announced. Pictures from the affected areas showed flooded streets, fallen trees and electricity pylons.
According to the US hurricane center, the hurricane has since weakened, but is still causing heavy rain as a tropical depression in the east of Texas and in the neighboring states of Louisiana and Arkansas. Tornadoes are also possible. According to meteorologists, "Beryl" is expected to move further north-east in the coming days and lose strength.
Deaths and major destruction in the Caribbean too
"Beryl" has been keeping people in the region on tenterhooks for more than a week. It was the first hurricane of this year's hurricane season, which begins in the Atlantic on June 1 and ends on November 30. In the southeast of the Caribbean, "Beryl" temporarily reached the highest hurricane strength (category 5), i.e. sustained winds of more than 251 kilometers per hour.
It roared over several islands in the Lesser Antilles, hit the mainland on the east coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula and then moved on through the Gulf of Mexico. At least eleven people lost their lives in the Caribbean region. On some of the island states of Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, more than 90 percent of houses were damaged or destroyed, according to the governments. Jamaica also suffered extensive damage and widespread power outages in some places.
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
Da dieser Artikel älter als 18 Monate ist, ist zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt kein Kommentieren mehr möglich.
Wir laden Sie ein, bei einer aktuelleren themenrelevanten Story mitzudiskutieren: Themenübersicht.
Bei Fragen können Sie sich gern an das Community-Team per Mail an forum@krone.at wenden.