Tracking Beryl: Galveston leaders prepare as storm heads to Texas coast
GALVESTON, Texas - The Texas coast is under a hurricane watch as Tropical Storm Beryl makes its way toward south Texas, potentially leaving damage.
It was a calm weather day in Galveston despite the county being under a heat advisory, but these normal conditions are not going to catch local officials off guard as they prepare for Beryl which weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm.
Mark Henry, Galveston County Judge said, "We increased our activation at the Office of Emergency Management from level 1 to level 2. We will have somebody here now 24 hours a day." Galveston is officially on Hurricane Beryl watch.
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Beryl is expected to start making its way to south Texas starting on Sunday and could bring a tropical storm, strong winds, and flooding.
Henry mentioned, "Coastal flooding is a concern because we're not that far above sea level. We've had a fair amount of rain this year. We're not completely saturated, but we're pretty wet. So that 1–3 inches they're forecasting that might cause localized flooding." As Galveston enjoyed a nice clear day, lots of sun and heat, that did not deter beachgoers from having some fun in the sun, despite being under a rip current warning.
Langston Hayes, a beachgoer, cautioned, "[People need to be] cautious because you don’t want to risk losing someone’s life. We see it a lot at another beach in Louisiana that’s where we’re from and there’s constant drownings."
Taylor Aiken added, "Everyone needs to be safe and watch out for what they’re doing." Drownings are a concern for local officials as there have been several in the last couple of months. Chief Peter Davis of Galveston Beach Control advised, "Swim near a lifeguard and follow our advice and that’s gonna go as we get to a red flag condition, which we probably will on Sunday. That’s gonna be waist deep no more for competent adult swimmers, children, and non-swimmers completely out of water."
Marsha McLaine shared her perspective: "I swim well, so it's not a concern for myself, but the grandkids, hopefully, they don’t go that far in, they don’t venture far in. My advice to nonswimmers is not to go far in because from what I understand, those rip currents can be fierce."
The U.S. Coast Guard will also be standing by, and some members of the Coast Guard will be traveling to Corpus Christi to assist over there.