Hurricane Beryl lands on U.S. Texas, leaving 2 people killed, 2.7 mln without power

SAN FRANCISCO, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Hurricane Beryl landed on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Texas early Monday morning, said the National Hurricane Center.

Two people were killed after trees fell on their houses, a man in the Houston suburb of Humble and a woman in Harris County, authorities said.

About 2.7 million homes and businesses in Texas lost power, according to poweroutage.us.

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said that crews can't get out to fix power lines until the wind dies down.

Beryl hit the coastal town of Matagorda, 85 miles southwest of Houston, as a Category 1 hurricane about 4 a.m. Central Time on Monday with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph.

"Life-threatening storm surge, damaging wind gusts, and flooding rainfall" persisted over eastern Texas, the hurricane center said.

The storm has claimed at least 11 lives in the past week in Venezuela, Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, and in U.S. Texas, according to media reports.