Latest news and updates as Hurricane Beryl makes landfall in Texas

HOUSTON — With Beryl churning toward the Texas Gulf Coast and expected to land as a Category 1 hurricane, the Houston area is preparing for heavy rain, flooding and possible tornados. As a result, watches and warnings have been issued and state government officials are preparing.

Check back here for real-time updates on the flooding concerns and severe weather around Southeast Texas.

As of the 1 a.m. National Hurricane Center update, Beryl was a Category 1 hurricane status with winds sustained at 80 mph. Movement is north-northwest at 10 mph. The National Hurricane Center is forecasting Category 1 hurricane strength at landfall, somewhere near or just east of Matagorda Bay.

The National Weather Service issued a Hurricane Warning for San Luis Pass to Bolivar, Matagorda County and a Tropical Storm Warning for Harris, S. Liberty, Galveston, Brazoria, Colorado, Chambers and Wharton counties until further notice.  A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for the Texas coastline.

Flash Flood and Tornado warnings are also imminent as Beryl moves toward the Texas Coast. Track the latest watches and warnings for your area here.

The State of Texas has issued a disaster declaration for 121 Texas counties as Beryl approaches. Many of those counties are in Southeast Texas, including Harris, Ft. Bend,, Brazoria, Galveston, Montgomery and more. See full list of counties and how the state is getting ready for Beryl. 

Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Splashtown announced that the waterpark will not be open on Sunday, July 7, and Monday, July 8, due to the storm.

The Houston Zoo said has decided to close the zoo at noon on Sunday, July 7 through Monday, July 8. All ticket holders may reschedule their Zoo visit by emailing group.reservations@houstonzoo.org.

As of 2 a.m. Monday, Galveston ferry suspended operations until further notice.

Island Transit rail service is suspended and the rubber wheel trolleys on Seawall ended at 3 p.m. Sunday to give time to secure vehicles and allow employees to prep their homes for the storm. 

Some flights out of Houston have already been canceled for early Monday. 

“As we go through the morning and, we see what the storm is going to do, then we’ll make that determination as to what time we’re pulling back all of those flights and start flying again,” Houston Airports COO Kelly Woodward said.

If you are traveling or picking someone up from Bush or Hobby, check the airline or Flight Aware for updates. 

United Airlines flights will operate out of Terminal C at Bush IAH until further notice. Terminal B is temporarily closed to streamline operations during Beryl. TSA checkpoints will be open at Terminals A and C.

The TSA checkpoint at Terminal D will open at a reduced capacity as we run irregular operations.

With Beryl roaring toward the Texas coast, several Houston outpatient medical facilities and other locations are cutting back on operations and services on Monday, July 8. See the full list here.

All area hospitals will remain open for emergencies.

Harris Health will close all of its outpatient and clinic facilities on Monday, July 8, ahead of Beryl for the safety of patients and staff. Patients with appointments are being notified of the closures and rescheduling options.

Harris Health hospitals—Ben Taub and Lyndon B. Johnson—will remain open and maintain emergency medical services throughout the storm. The hospitals are not equipped to be shelters for people who are not admitted as patients. Any persons seeking shelter at a hospital will be redirected or transported to a local shelter operation, as available.

Legacy Community Health clinics are closing on Monday, July 8, due to the tropical storm Beryl in our region.

All Telehealth appointments will continue on Monday as planned.

Patients with appointments scheduled when the clinics are closed will be contacted proactively by clinic staff to reschedule their appointments.

All H-E-B, Joe V’s, Mi Tienda and Central Market stores across the Greater Houston area will delay opening Monday, July 8, until noon. This includes all H-E-B fuel stations and pharmacies at those stores. 

H-E-B announced it plans to close the following stores at 10 p.m. on Sunday.

• Bay City H-E-B
• Edna H-E-B
• El Campo H-E-B
• Lake Jackson H-E-B
• Port Lavaca H-E-B
• Wharton H-E-B

As the storm passes, H-E-B said they will assess each store’s condition before reopening to the public.

Curbside and home delivery may have limited availability in certain areas.

RELATED: H-E-B limits purchases on some essentials; closing some stores Sunday night in advance of Beryl

H-E-B also announced short-term limits on the following essentials.

• water multipack – limit 2
• water gallon – limit 2
• bread products – limit 2
• tortilla products – limit 2
• ice – limit 4

H-E-B has confirmed that there is NOT a limit on brisket, despite the claim making the rounds on social media. This post on has nearly 800,000 views. It appears to be a screen shot of an old news report. H-E-B did limit briskets in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

 The City of Houston Solid Waste Management Department announced service interruptions for Monday, July 8, due to Beryl’s expected high winds and heavy rain. All services will be suspended, including storm debris operations, garbage, recycling, yard and tree waste collections. See the updated schedule here.

There are curfews in place for both Palacios and Bay City, according to their Facebook pages. The Palacios curfew is for 9 p.m.  The Bay City curfew begins at 11 p.m.

The City of Houston Municipal Courts Department will be closed on Monday, July 8. All normal court operations will resume on Tuesday, July 9. Case resets will take place in person at all City of Houston court locations beginning Tuesday, July 9, through Friday, July 12, until 5 p.m.

The courthouse facilities will be closed to the public. District Courts (excluding the 165th and 270th which will hold virtual dockets) and county courts will not have dockets. Jury service at the Harris County Jury Assembly, 1201 Congress Street, is canceled on Monday, July 8. Those summoned to appear on Monday, July 8, do not need to appear or reschedule. Empaneled jurors for a specific court should contact their court directly with any questions or concerns.

All cases set for Monday will be rescheduled. This includes:

• Criminal misdemeanor cases set on the dockets for each of the 16 Harris County Criminal Courts at Law, as well as the docket run by Harris County Criminal Courts at Law Associate Judge David Singer.
• Civil cases set on dockets for each of the four Harris County Civil Courts at Law, as well as the docket run by Harris County Civil Courts at Law Associate Judge Jermaine Thomas.

To find your new date, contact your attorney or the court in which your case is assigned or monitor the appropriate clerk’s website:

The courts expect to resume normal operations on Tuesday, July 9, 2024. Should that change, we will post updated information on social media and our website: www.ccl.hctx.net.

In anticipation of severe weather, METRO will make the following service adjustments:

Monday, July 8

• Local bus, METRORapid, METRORail, and METROLift services will be suspended until 8 a.m.
• All Park & Ride service will be suspended.
• METRO HOV/HOT lanes will be closed.
• RideStores will be closed.

Crews will monitor conditions through the night and early morning hours, as conditions allow, to restore service as quickly as possible.

METRO offers real-time information through service alerts.

If you or anyone you know in Texas needs assistance during an emergency event, you can register in advance with the State of Texas Emergency Assistance Registry or STEAR program. The STEAR program is a free registry that provides local emergency planners and emergency responders with additional information on the needs in their community. Registering yourself in the STEAR registry DOES NOT guarantee that you will receive a specific service during an emergency. 

Who Should Register?

• People with disabilities
• Medically fragile people
• People with access and functional needs such as limited mobility or communication barriers 
• People who require additional medical assistance during an emergency event
• People who require transportation assistance
• People who require personal care assistance

Register online or by calling 211.

Greater Harris County 9-1-1 Emergency Network reminds residents before, during and after a storm to ONLY contact 9-1-1 for in-progress life-threatening emergencies for police, fire or medical assistance.

It’s important not to overload the emergency call centers with non-emergency calls, especially during a storm. Non-emergency calls can delay residents with real life-threatening emergencies getting the response they need. Heavy call congestion on wireless, wireline phone networks and 9-1-1 centers could cause delay and/or prevent calls from being delivered.

As Beryl churned toward the Texas coast on Sunday, residents were still boarding up homes and stocking up on supplies. A voluntary evacuation was issued for Galveston’s West End where low-lying areas aren’t protected by the seawall.