HOUSTON — As Beryl was moving out of the Houston area Monday, Mayor John Whitmire and other city leaders assessed the damage and pleaded with people to stay where they were.
The storm, which came ashore near Matagorda as a Cat. 1 hurricane and moved right through the city, left more than 2 million CenterPoint customers in the dark, flooded roads and left at least two people dead.
As the city recovers from the devastating blow from Beryl, Whitmire urged people to do their part.
“We are in an emergency,” he said at a news conference on Monday. “We’re in rescue mode. I plead with you to shelter in place. Please don’t put our first responders at risk.”
Whitmire said the city would be opening up centers and the Red Cross had contacted them. They had locations identified, but because many of the multiservice centers, even the George R. Brown Convention Center, were without power.
According to Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña, there was one fire death in the city related to the storm, which was on the southeast side. He urged people to call 911 only for true emergencies.
Houston Public Works Chief Operating Officer Randy Macchi echoed the message to stay home.
“As far as our streets are concerned, it is important to remember that our primary drainage mechanism throughout this city is our streets,” Macchi said. “For better or worse, that is the reality of the situation.”
Macchi said in events like this streets will drain slower than normally.