A new drone video shows the extent of the damage along the coast on the Surfside Beach just south of Houston. Several homes can be seen ripped apart and partially collapsed, no match for the powerful storm.
Joedy Perdew traded life in the suburbs for coastal scenery.
“I’ve been here for 12 years,” Perdew said. “I’ve been coming here since the early 90’s.”
Perdew owns a home in Surfside Beach but grew up in Arlington. Confident that Beryl would not cause much damage, Perdew decided not to evacuate.
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“I was tucked away,” Perdew said. “It’s in the back close to City Hall, Coastguard, EMS, and the police station.”
As wind speeds picked up and heavy rainfall continued for hours, Perdew admits there were moments of uncertainty.
“As the house is rocking sure you're going, ‘Oh God, please’,” Perdew said. However, she said she never regretted her decision to stay.
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“(It’s the) luck of the draw. Like I said, there’s a lot worse damage this time.”
Brazoria County officials compared Beryl’s potential to Hurricane Nicholas which pummeled the area back in September of 2021. The coastal community was without power for about a week however, they said the damage does not compare to what Hurricane Beryl caused.
“There’s a lot of wind damage, and the surge of the water lifted everything and moved it,” Perdew said. The strong current washed away large chunks of asphalt roads and left potholes. An iconic row of beach-front homes also took a hard hit.
“Everyone has always known about the A-frame (homes) so, yeah, it’s crazy,” Perdew said.
“It’s sad to see them go. We’ve seen those things here forever,” Austin Campell said. Campell said a member of the local band that plays at a Surfside beach restaurant lived there but evacuated. The homes are now destroyed.
“I’m a little bit surprised that they took this much damage,” Campbell said.
Campbell was born and raised in the beach town but began to prepare to leave days in advance.
“In all honesty, it’s just cheaper to leave. I’ve lived here my whole life for 46 years,” Campell said. “We’ve seen a lot of these storms. The minute I saw it cross the Yucatan, I started putting things up.”
Campell headed inland to the City of Lake Jackson.
“Their power is out and it’s going to take a while to clean up there, too,” Campell said.
Still, Lake Jackson took a huge hit.
“It was a scary thing. It was a really scary thing,” Gary Thompson said. Thompson lives feet away from a convenience store.
“There was this big boom, scrape, and all kind of winds blowing and whipping,” Thompson said.
Beryl’s strength was enough to blow off the store’s tin canopy. Now, a pile of debris blocks the alley and part of Thompson’s backyard.
“It just blew everything my way,” Thompson said.
Thompson and his mother were not injured. Now, Thompson and his neighbors are left working in the heat and humidity as there is no estimate for power restorations to be completed.
“We're family here. We're all going to get out and help each other out to see who needs what,” Perdew said. “We’ll just start over and do it again.”
