Hurricane Beryl downgraded to tropical storm after pummeling Texas with 100mph winds: Live updates

Beryl continues to weaken into a tropical depression, sustaining maximum wind speeds of 35mph (55km/h) – around half of what it was packing earlier on Monday.

Beryl weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm, now down into a depression on Monday. To upgrade into a tropical storm, the storm must sustain maximum winds between 39mph and 73mph.

There is no further coastal watches or warnings in effect, but the National Hurricane Center still warned at 10pm CDT on Monday of flooding rains and a risk of tornadoes across portions of eastern Texas, western Louisiana, and Arkansas.

As of Monday evening, water levels remained elevated along the Texas coast, but should have receded overnight, as well as surf swells generated by Beryl expected to gradually decrease in the next day or so.

A tornado risk will spread into southeast Missouri, northern Tennessee, Kentucky, southern Illinois, southern Indiana, and Ohio on Tuesday.

Heavy rainfall of three to five inches, with locally higher amounts, is expected across portions of far southeastern Oklahoma, Arkansas and southern Missouri through Tuesday, with local flash and urban flooding expected.

Power started to come back for some of the millions of homes and businesses left in the dark when Hurricane Beryl slammed into the Houston area, while the weakened storm moved east, spawning suspected tornadoes and causing more damage.

After a peak Monday of more than 2.7 million customers around Houston without power, the numbers improved to more than 2.4 million homes and businesses lacking electricity by Monday night, according to PowerOutage.us.

The lack of cooling to people’s homes, downed power lines and non-functioning traffic lights led officials to ask residents to stay home if possible.

“Houstonians need to know we’re working around the clock so you will be safe,” Houston mayor John Whitmire said, urging residents to also know the dangers of high water, to stay hydrated and to check on their neighbours.

Millions of people in Texas could be left without power for days after Hurricane Beryl’s deadly track inland.

Meanwhile, heat alerts are in place for millions of Americans across the country.

Battered by multiple extreme weather conditions, people in Texas could be at increased risk of heat exhaustion, experts warn.

“The heat can be dangerous for people who do not have power as they work to clean up debris and repair storm damage,” said AccuWeather’s chief meteorologist, Jon Porter.

“Everyone dealing with the Texas heat who lost power needs to have access to shaded areas and drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.”

“People understandably get desperate for power when those outages last days or weeks.” “We’ve seen tragic cases of people being hurt or killed when they try to use portable generators after a hurricane landfall.

“It’s crucial for people to use extreme caution when operating generators and make sure there is proper ventilation away from doors and windows to your home.”

Beryl has weakened ever so slightly, meaning it is no longer considered a hurricane, and is now a tropical storm.

The National Hurricane Center has reported that Beryl is packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 70mph (110km/h) as it approaches Houston, currently 20 miles (30km) west-northwest of the city.

To be considered a hurricane, Beryl would to need to sustain at least 74mph (119km/h) to be a Category 1 hurricane, according to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.

Despite not being a hurricane anymore, the NHC and local officials still warn that the weather conditions are dangerous, with life-threatening storm surge, damaging wind gusts and considerable flash flooding that are continuing across portions of southeast Texas.