Tropical storm Beryl has intensified into a hurricane and is expected to strengthen further before its expected landfall tonight on Texas’s southeast coast.
The hurricane is hurtling towards Houston with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph) and is 105 miles (170 km) east of the city of Corpus Christi, the National Hurricane Center said.
It is expected to be a Category 2 storm by the time it makes landfall near Houston.
More than a million people in Texas have been placed under a hurricane warning and are bracing for storm surges, flash flooding and strong winds.
Acting governor Dan Patrick declared 120 counties to be disaster areas ahead of the storm and warned Beryl “will be a deadly storm”.
School systems, airports and major oil shipping operations have been suspended and will remain closed for the day on Monday.
Beryl has already left a trail of destruction as a Category 5 hurricane through Mexico and the Caribbean.
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