Beryl strengthens ahead of Texas landfall

Hurricane Expert, Alex DaSilva, has the latest on the Beryl eye path and what to expect when the storm approaches the Texas coast.

Transcript

00:00The first landfalling hurricane of the year in the U.S. is a big one in terms of impacts and at least in terms of attention.

00:07There's a lot of buzz about this over the next day or two. So what's the status of Burl right now?

00:12Well right now the storm just emerged out into the western Gulf of Mexico.

00:16The storm is a little disheveled right now as it's dealing with a little bit of wind shear right now.

00:20So it has dropped down to tropical storm status but looks like this is going to be only temporary

00:25as we expect the storm to strengthen up as it makes its way towards the Texas coast.

00:29So overall the mechanics of the storm, a lot of eyes over the past week and rightfully so, Alex,

00:34have been on this ridge of high pressure aloft. How has that evolved?

00:38It is drifting east a little bit. Is it going to allow this to come straight north or how is it going to evolve here?

00:44We've been talking about this this entire week that we were concerned that if this area of high pressure

00:49backs away a little bit and the storm is a little stronger than what we anticipated

00:53and which it was once it got into the southwestern Gulf,

00:56it can actually be pulled to the north towards the Texas coast.

00:59We've been very concerned about this potential to happen and it looks like it is going to happen.

01:03The storm is going to be pulled to the north by an area of low pressure dipping into Texas

01:09and the storm is expected to make that turn arriving on the Texas coast somewhere around midday Monday.

01:15And we have a more zoomed in view here. You mentioned Matagorda Bay is the likely location of landfall.

01:22So areas just northeast of there, how will their impacts vary from those just to the south?

01:27The track is going to matter so much. Areas just to the north of that landfall point

01:31is going to deal with the most storm surge. So we're very concerned about Matagorda Bay, Port Lavaca.

01:36These areas I think are going to be under the gun for the most severe storm surge.

01:40Right now we're thinking three to six feet above normally dry ground.

01:43So please, if you're out there along any of these coastal areas,

01:46heat evacuation orders if they're given for these coastline areas.

01:50And here we have that six foot plus storm surge range around that area.

01:55And for those around Houston and Galveston, what will our biggest flood concern be?

02:00Will it be tied to the storm surge or rain?

02:02I think it's going to be a little of both. We have to watch the storm track very carefully.

02:06It could inch a little further north towards Galveston Bay,

02:09in which case the storm surge numbers would have to come up.

02:11But I think a lot of it is going to be very heavy rainfall.

02:14You can see here we're forecasting around three to six to four to eight inches around the Houston area.

02:19So that's going to cause plenty of flooding.

02:21And then we're also going to have the tidal flooding as well from the storm surge.

02:24And we're looking at the arrival time of that rain around Galveston.

02:27Sometimes the squiggly lines, they're a little chaotic at first glance,

02:30but they're very meaningful and you can connect the dots here from around Galveston,

02:332 p.m. Sunday for the arrival time of the rain, and it increases after that time.

02:38Yeah.

02:39All right. Well, Alex DaSilva, we appreciate all your insight from the wind to the rain,

02:43the storm surge, all really good information here.

02:46So I know you're hard at work. So thanks again, Alex.

02:48We certainly appreciate it.