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Beryl makes landfall near coastal town of Matagorda

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Expected to weaken to tropical storm later on Monday

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Oil port closures could disrupt crude shipments

(Updates power outages in paragraphs 1 and 15; adds reported

Texas death in paragraph 4;)

July 8 (Reuters) - Hurricane Beryl lashed Texas with

strong winds and heavy rain on Monday as it churned inland,

forcing the closure of oil ports, cancellation of hundreds of

flights and leaving nearly 2 million homes and businesses

without power.

Beryl, the season's earliest Category 5 hurricane on record,

made landfall near the coastal town of Matagorda, Texas

early in the day, pounding the coast with dangerous storm surges

and heavy rain, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

The storm, which was expected to rapidly weaken as it moved

inland, swept a destructive path through Jamaica, Grenada, and

St. Vincent and the Grenadines last week, killing at least 11

people and toppling buildings and power lines.

In Texas, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said on social

media platform X on Monday that preliminary information

indicated one person died after a tree fell on a house.

In Texas, the biggest U.S. oil and natural gas

producing-state, the energy industry braced for Beryl's impact

as the powerful storm slowed refining activity and prompted the

evacuation of some production sites.

"Life-threatening storm surge and heavy rainfall is ongoing

across portions of Texas. Damaging winds ongoing along the

coast, with strong winds moving inland," the NHC said, adding

that Beryl was now expected to lose power.

Following warnings that it could be a deadly storm for

communities in its path, residents had rushed to board up

windows and stock up on fuel and other essential supplies.

Before daybreak, strong gusts and torrential rain lashed

cities and towns such as Galveston, Sargent, Lake Jackson and

Freeport, television footage showed.

The storm had strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane as it

crossed the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico before making

landfall, but the NHC said it was now expected to weaken

rapidly.

"Beryl is expected to weaken to a tropical storm later today

and to a tropical depression on Tuesday," the NHC said.

"Steady-to-rapid weakening is expected as the center moves

inland."

Hurricanes typically weaken as they move over land.

Located about 55 miles (90 km) south-south-west of Houston,

Beryl was moving at 12 mph (19 kph) and was expected to barrel

over eastern parts of the state through the day before moving

into the Lower Mississippi Valley and the Ohio Valley on Tuesday

and Wednesday, the NHC said.

Acting Texas Governor Dan Patrick on Sunday declared 120

counties to be disaster areas ahead of the storm and warned

Beryl would be deadly for people directly in its path.

Schools said they would close as the storm approached.

Airlines cancelled more than 1,300 flights, and officials

ordered a smattering of evacuations in beach towns.

More than 1.8 million homes and businesses in Texas have

lost power, according to local utilities and PowerOutage.us

data.

Several counties in southeastern Texas - including Houston,

where many U.S. energy companies are headquartered - are under a

flash-flood warning as thunderstorms unleashed up to six inches

(15 cm) of rain, with two to four more inches expected.

Resident Gary Short said he was most concerned about

possible flooding, which the NHC warned was expected across

parts of Texas into Monday night.

"I'm more worried about the rain than anything," he said as

he filled up cans with gasoline at a service station on Sunday.

"Other than that, not too concerned. Just getting ready."

Closures of major oil-shipping ports around Corpus Christi,

Galveston and Houston ahead of the storm could disrupt crude oil

exports, along with shipments of crude to refineries and motor

fuel from the plants.

Some oil producers, including Shell and Chevron ( CVX )

, evacuated personnel from their Gulf of Mexico offshore

production platforms ahead of the storm.