Special Report: Hurricane Beryl
7/17/2024
A tropical wave travelled west from Africa on June 25th and began organizing on June 28th in the Main Development Region (MDR). The system quickly intensified as it travelled through the unusually hot tropical Atlantic. Category 4 Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Grenada July 1st, leaving absolute devastation in its wake.
Travelling further west-northwest, Hurricane Beryl further intensified as it entered the Caribbean, reaching category 5 with sustained winds of 165 mph on July 2nd. Beryl lost strength and was downgraded to a category 2 hurricane after passing just south of Jamaica and encountering wind shear from the island nation. Once clearing Jamaica, Beryl intensified again, reaching category 3, then weakening again before making landfall near Tulum on the Yucatan Peninsula as a category 2 hurricane on July 5th. Beryl weakened to a tropical storm after moving over the Yucatan and entered the Gulf of Mexico. During Beryl’s weakening over the Yucatan its landfall trajectory shifted north from Mexico to south Texas. While in the Gulf of Mexico Beryl reorganized and strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane on July 8th before making landfall near Matagorda, Texas – the northerly shift came as a surprise as most models showed the system making landfall in northern Mexico. As Beryl unexpectedly intensified and shifted north, the eastern eye wall passed directly over the Greater Houston region, bringing 90 mph gusts and about 8” of rain for most of the region. The eye wall of the hurricane is most intense with greatest wind speeds. Some more western parts of Houston received close to 15” of rain. Beryl’s wind damage to the Houston area resulted in more than 2.7 million CenterPoint Energy customers without power. Reports indicate Beryl is responsible for at least 44 deaths and greater than $6 billion in damage.
Upon making landfall Beryl weakened, travelling north-northwest into Arkansas and finally dissipated.
Meteorically, Beryl broke all sorts of records:
· Beryl was the earliest recorded category 4 and 5 hurricane to develop in the Atlantic Basin
· Beryl’s rapid intensification, wind speeds increasing 65 mph over a 24hr period is the greatest intensification on recorded
· Beryl was responsible for 110 tornado warnings issued in a single day – record breaking for July
Meteorologists attribute Beryl’s unusual activity to record breaking sea surface temperatures. As we all know, hot, humid air and warm bodies of water fuel tropical systems. Late June and early July the Main Development Region (MDR) was experiencing ocean temperatures usually observed in early September. As a result of the system moving through the MDR in early July we see a significant drop in ocean heat content in Beryl’s wake. The reason we see the decrease in heat content is due to a couple of factors. Firstly, as a low pressure system moving over a body of water the system causes sea surface evaporation and increased precipitation. For those familiar, this acts like a cooling tower where water particles are separated, resulting in more surface area and allowing energy (heat) to escape into the atmosphere and dissipate. The second reason for the decrease in heat content is simply because of the cloud coverage brought by the system. The sea surface temperature still remains incredibly hot and is quite concerning for future system as we approach the thick of hurricane season. Note: the Atlantic shows “tropical cyclone activity is not expected during the next 7 days”. We will continue monitoring the Atlantic as we navigate the 2024 hurricane season.
Aftermath
Currently, about 50,000 CenterPoint Energy customers remain in the dark. CenterPoint Energy’s online outage tracker has been down since May 16th when a severe derecho struck Texas. Customers reported receiving inaccurate alerts of outages and restorations. Finally, on July 12th CenterPoint Energy provided maps showing areas with outage and anticipated restoration dates. Many customers reported the maps were inaccurate, showing areas are restored when they were still de-energized.
CenterPoint Energy has garnished a lot of attention for its (mis)management of the natural disaster. Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) has issued an investigation into CenterPoint Energy’s response to Beryl. Texas Governor Abbott, Houston Mayor Whitmire, and Public Utility Commission of Texas chair Gleeson met Monday, July 15th to tour the impacted region. Governor Abbott has applied pressure to CenterPoint Energy, stating “(the series of directives) must get done and articulate to me exactly what they’re going to do to meet my demands by July 31”, Abbott said he would demand the PUC reject CenterPoint Energy’s request to recover funds if Abbott’s request are not fulfilled.
Brad Tutunjian, CenterPoint Energy’s VP of regulatory policy said CenterPoint Energy will have to make changes in the way it operates, namely vegetation management and efforts to bury essential utility lines. As far as vegetation management goes, CenterPoint Energy is noted for spending about $17 annually per customer to manage tree growth around power lines, comparatively, Entergy, which manages much of the surrounding Houston area spends about $63 annually per customer.
Houston restaurants have filed a class action lawsuit against CenterPoint Energy for its response to Hurricane Beryl.
Our take: CenterPoint Energy should have provided clear information and had an accurate outage tracker available to customers prior to this event. As far as aging infrastructure and maintenance, this is part of how the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) governs differently to other governing commissions across the country. PUCT exercises far less regulation than other utility commissions in other states. As a result, PUCT has not taken an assertive approach to managing CenterPoint Energy resulting in service interruptions, but, at the same time CenterPoint Energy is run far leaner than other utilities. This is all subject to change with the current investigations. The question is can CenterPoint Energy’s customers live with service disruptions with inexpensive power, or should we have further regulation, which in turn means a greater cost to the consumer with a more reliable and responsive utility?
1. 6/25/24 - A tropical wave travels west from Africa
2. 6/28/24 – Tropical Storm Beryl begins organizing
3. 6/29/24 – Tropical Storm Beryl intensifies, becoming Hurricane Beryl
4. 6/30/24 – Hurricane Beryl further intensifies, becoming a category 3 then category 4 hurricane
5. 7/1/24 - Category 4 Hurricane Beryl makes landfall in Grenada, further intensifies and becomes a category 5 hurricane
6. 7/2/24 - Travelling further west-northwest, Hurricane Beryl further intensified as it entered the Caribbean, reaching category 5 with sustained winds of 165 mph
7. 7/3/24 – Beryl weakens with winds of 140 mph after wind shear from the Dominican Republic and then Jamaica slow down the system
8. 7/4/24 Beryl passes Grand Cayman Island, weakening further with winds of 120 mph
9. 7/5/24 - Landfall in Tulum on the Yucatan Peninsula as a category 2 hurricane with winds of 110 mph
10. 7/5/24 – Beryl weakens, now a tropical storm, as it moves over the Yucatan and into the Gulf of Mexico with winds of 60 mph, storm trajectory shifts from northern Mexico to Texas
11. 7/7/24 – Beryl intensifies back to hurricane status, as it approaches Matagorda, Texas with winds of 75 mph
12. 7/8/24 – Landfall is made near Matagorda, Texas as a category 1 hurricane with winds of 80 mph