Tropical Storm Beryl is expected to regain its hurricane strength before hitting South Texas late on Sunday, the National Hurricane Center predicts.
The storm weakened after hitting Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as a Category 2 hurricane on Friday. But, as it crosses over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico it is expected to grow to hurricane strength again and cause multiple hazards for U.S. Gulf coastlines, NHC said in updates.
The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch for the Texas coast from the mouth of the Rio Grande River, northward to San Luis Pass. A tropical storm warning was put in place for areas south of Baffin Bay and for northeastern Mexico.
By Saturday morning, Beryl was churning 460 miles southeast of Corpus Christi with sustained winds of 60 mph. A turn to the northwest is expected later Saturday before reaching Texas by late Sunday night into early Monday morning.
"The combination of storm surge and tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline," the National Hurricane Center, adding some areas of southern Texas could see a maximum storm surge of five feet.
A storm surge watch and hurricane watch were issued for parts of the Texas coastline, Scripps News Corpus Christi reported. Local reports forcast rain by Sunday and into next week for South Texas with at least 4-7 inches expected through Wednesday.
Residents were warned of rough surf and a high risk of rip currents into next week. Preparations were underway along with warnings of strong winds, flash flooding and a possible tornado risk.
Rainfall totals could be anywhere from 5 to 10 inches across portions of the Texas Gulf Coast during the storm.
