• Philip Burn

Salvation Army Meal Service to Begin Tuesday after Hurricane Beryl Batters Houston and SE Texas

Dallas, Texas (July 9, 2024) – Hurricane Beryl made landfall as a Category 1 storm on the Texas Gulf Coast early Monday morning near the city of Matagorda, only 85 miles from Houston, and caused widespread flooding and left more than 2 million customers without power in Houston and Southeast Texas. The Salvation Army has moved quickly to establish command post locations for feeding operations that should begin on Tuesday in affected communities.

 

Beryl, which weakened to a tropical storm soon after making landfall, is the earliest hurricane on record to reach Category 5 and is only the 10th July hurricane to strike Texas since records began in 1851. The storm continues to move in a northeast direction, with damaging winds and heavy rainfall falling over areas of east Texas that have already experienced catastrophic flooding in 2024.

 

“The Salvation Army Incident Management Team, responsible to lead response efforts, will be based at our Disaster Warehouse in Houston, with a second operation established in Wharton, Texas. A Southern Baptist Texas Convention (SBTC) Disaster Response kitchen will handle the preparation and cooking of all meals in both locations,” said Alvin Migues, Emergency Disaster Services Director for The Salvation Army in Texas. “We expect to have our mobile feeding units serving meals in impacted communities by Tuesday afternoon.”

 

Eight Salvation Army mobile kitchens and trained disaster teams from San Antonio, New Braunfels, Victoria, Kerrville, Granbury, Bryan/College Station, Conroe and Freeport have been deployed to Houston and the impacted area. Additional mobile kitchens remain on standby. Feeding operations will begin on Tuesday in the following locations:

 

• Spring Branch, Community Health Center, 8575 Pitner Rd, Houston

• Campanile Justice Park, 39 Justice Park Drive, Houston

• Shady Village Manufactured Homes & Wichita Mobile Home Park, 2732 Cherry Brook Lane, Houston

• Independence Hall Apartments, 6 Burress St, Houston

• Brazoria County - Roaming in Freeport and Lake Jackson

• Matagorda County - Markham Elementary, 200 6th Street and Palacios Elementary, 1001 5th St, Palacio

• Wharton County - Wharton Civic Center, 1924 N Fulton St, Wharton and Boling Lago High School, 407 Atlantic Ave, Boling-Iago

• Brazoria County - Angleton High School, 1 Campus Dr., Angleton, 77515 and Holiday Lakes Government Office, 195 N Texas Ave, Holiday Lakes, and roaming in West Columbia

• Matagorda County - Bay Breeze Apartments, 800 Ave F, Bay City and Matagorda Elementary 717 Wightman St., Matagorda

Link to serving locations: Beryl - SAL Serving Locations Day 1 (batchgeo.com)

“Damage assessment will continue over the next few days and the situation remains fluid as is always the case in any disaster,” said Migues. “The Salvation Army team is working closely with both local and state agencies and will adjust our response efforts as necessary in order to effectively meet the needs of those impacted by the storm.”

For the latest information, please go to www.disaster.salvationarmy.org and watch for regular updates on our social media pages at www.facebook.com/salvationarmytexas/ and www.twitter.com/salarmytx. To make a donation, go to www.helpsalvationarmy.org.