Hurricane Beryl: 10 killed, more than 2 million without power

President Joe Biden granted a federal disaster declaration to all counties affected by Beryl.

The cleanup from Hurricane Beryl is underway after the Category 1 storm made landfall on Monday morning.

Beryl has weakened and is now a low-pressure system. It is expected to move from Arkansas through Michigan throughout the week.

Cleanup is going to take a very long time, and there's no real timeline for full power restoration.

Beryl is now being blamed for nearly a dozen deaths.

Beryl Damage in Texas

Beryl is gone, but across Houston, the floodwaters are slow to recede.

At least 10 people were killed in the storm, including nine in the greater Houston area and one in Louisiana.

Wind gusts of up to 94 miles per hour brought storm surge, knocked over trees and ripped roofs off of homes.

As the storm moved inland, it led to tornadoes in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.

Recovery began with clearing trees and cleaning debris.

In the Houston area, officials say three people were killed by fallen trees, two people drowned and one died in a house fire.

Over in Galveston County, two people died from carbon monoxide poisoning from generators. Another person died due to lack of oxygen after they lost power and could not operate their medical equipment.

Over in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, local officials say a woman was killed when a tree fell on her house.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire confirmed 54-year-old Houston Police Information Security Officer Russell Richardson drowned while driving to work.

"He was a great guy, salt of the earth. He was showing up to work to help today and lost his life doing that, and I had to go talk to his family and share that terrible news with them," said Houston's Interim Police Chief Larry Satterwhite.   

The high winds brought down trees and damaged several buildings, including NRG Stadium, the home of the Houston Texas.

Hurricane Beryl Power Outages

The race to restore power is underway across Southeast Texas as communities ride out the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl without electricity. 

The city expects only half of those to have their power back by Wednesday.

Nearly 12,000 crews are on the ground. Houstonians are forced to wait while in a heat advisory. 

The big effort on Tuesday is to restore power and water to residents.

At its peak, the storm knocked out power to more than 2.7 million homes and businesses.

At 3 p.m., there are still more than 2 million customers without power throughout Texas.

Nearly all of the outages are in southeast Texas where CenterPoint Energy is reporting 1.8 million without power.

CenterPoint says power will be restored to a million of them by the end of tomorrow.

"We are doing everything we possibly can to see that your electricity is restored," Houston Mayor John Whitmire said in a Tuesday press conference. "It affects everything we talk about today. Safety, work, church, families, education. Yes, we are in constant touch with CenterPoint. We are holding them accountable. I talk to them every four hours for an update."

As for a timeline on the other half, Paul Locke with CenterPoint doesn’t really have one.

"I cannot give you a timeline, but its not going to be tomorrow," he said. "Look, we live here, and we work here. And employees don't have power. It's miserable. No one wants to sleep in a house that’s 85 degrees."

Officials say it will take days to restore power for everyone.

Acting Governor Dan Patrick says the state is sending about 11,500 linemen to the affected areas.

"When you have 80 mph winds and gusts more than that and all the trees are around power lines in every neighborhood and every business community you're going to have power go down no matter how much we have on the grid," he said.

On Tuesday afternoon, Lt. Gov. Patrick said that had spoken with President Biden about the damage and FEMA assistance.

Patrick says Biden granted his request for a federal disaster declaration.

Patrick revealed Houston hospitals are inundated.

"We have a backup in our hospitals because they can’t discharge patients because they can’t go home if they don’t have power," he said.

NRG Convention Center will soon be opening to house up to 250 patients.

At a news conference on Tuesday morning in the Bryan-College station area, Patrick was asked if the response was at all hindered by Governor Abbott being in east Asia securing business deals for the state.

"No, he and I have worked together for nine years as governor and lieutenant governor and I've been involved in all these situations before, just not as the lead on the team," Patrick replied. 

As if not having power wasn't already bad enough, a Heat Advisory is in effect through at least Wednesday.

Temperatures will feel as hot as 105 degrees with humidity. 

Where Did Beryl Make Landfall?

Beryl made landfall at 3:50 a.m. Monday as a Category 1 hurricane near Matagorda, Texas, about 100 miles southwest of Houston, with maximum sustained winds of 80 miles per hour.

The storm made landfall twice before reaching Texas.

The storm hit the Windward Islands as a Category 4 hurricane on June 29.

It barely avoided Jamaica and the Cayman Islands before making landfall as a Category 2 hurricane on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.

At least 11 people were killed on the way across the Caribbean.

The storm became a tropical storm before re-intensifying in the Gulf of Mexico and becoming a hurricane hours before making landfall in Texas.