Weary Gulf Coast residents prep for latest storm: Beta
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – High water rescue teams were on alert along hundreds of miles of the Gulf Coast on Sunday as Tropical Storm Beta threatened to pound the weather-weary region with damaging storm surge and drenching rains.
Beta becomes the latest in a long line of storms this hurricane season.
Beta already has made history as the earliest 23rd-named tropical storm in the Atlantic, replacing Alpha, nearly 15 years ago. Alpha, which formed Oct. 22, 2005, was the first-ever storm to be assigned a Greek letter.
Beta, with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph, was about 140 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas, on Sunday afternoon. It was expected to make landfall Monday or early Tuesday between Corpus Christi and Galveston, AccuWeather forecast.
It would be the ninth system to make landfall in the United States this season, tying a record set more than 100 years ago. Authorities worry residents have become storm-fatigued and might react too casually to Beta’s potential since hurricane status is not likely.
“We are still in the hurricane season,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner pleaded on social media.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said areas from Victoria to Beaumont, more than 200 miles to the northeast, can expect heavy flooding.
“We are providing water rescue teams across the Gulf Coast to help save lives,” Abbott said. “Texas is prepared to support communities in the path of the storm.”
A tropical storm warning was in effect over more than 400 miles of coast from Port Aransas, Texas, to Morgan City, Louisiana. In Corpus Christi, officials ran out of sandbags at both distribution locations late Saturday.