Port Houston resumed operations Wednesday following the deadly impact of Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall in the region as a Category 1 hurricane Monday, July 8, before weakening to a tropical storm. The storm is being blamed for at least eight deaths in the region—seven in Texas and one in Louisiana, according to local reports.
Beryl's remnants continued to move northward Wednesday, bringing high winds, threats of flooding, and tornado warnings through the Midwest and to the interior Northeast, according to the National Weather Service.
Although ports and roads are reopening in hard-hit Texas, fallout from the storm continues to hamper commerce. As of Wednesday, millions of homes and businesses remained without power, and volunteer organizations—including supply chain and logistics companies—were aiding those in need.
The American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN) started prepping for the disaster last week by reaching out to its business, government, and non-profit partners in the Caribbean, Mexico, and along the U.S. Gulf Coast to assess readiness and potential needs. The group hosted a conference call this week to further assess need and coordinate assistance. As of Wednesday, those efforts were ongoing.
ALAN is a non-profit organization that provides supply chain assistance to humanitarian organizations before, during, and after disasters. Founded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the group matches aid groups in need of logistics services with companies willing to provide support.
“Most of our requests for assistance arrive after a hurricane or tropical storm has hit, sometimes weeks, months or even years into recovery” Alexia Nobles, ALAN’s operations coordinator, said in a press release Wednesday. “That’s because each storm winds up having very different outcomes and pain points. And you really can’t predict what those will be–and where relief organizations will require supply chain assistance the most–until after the storm has moved through.”
Separately, ALAN's Executive Director Kathy Fulton said immediate relief efforts were heavily focused on Southern Texas and Houston as well as the Caribbean Windward islands.
Hurricane Beryl pounded the Caribbean last week, destroying buildings and power lines and killing at least 11 people, before hitting the Texas Coast. The storm is the earliest category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record and set the stage for what many experts say could be an especially intense hurricane season this year. Earlier this year, researchers from the University of Arizona predicted that 2024 could see more storms than last year’s above-average hurricane season, for example.
Meteorologists from Colorado State University have predicted an “extremely active” hurricane season this year as well, calling for 25 named storms and six major hurricanes, surpassing the 20 named storms and three major hurricanes in 2023.
This story was updated on July 10 to include comments from ALAN.
