Overall Green alert Tropical Cyclone for BETA-20
in United States, Mexico

Event summary

Tropical Cyclone BETA-20 can have a low humanitarian impact based on the maximum sustained wind speed, exposed population and vulnerability.

GDACS ID TC 1000718
Name BETA-20
From - To 17 Sep - 22 Sep
Exposed countries United States, Mexico
Exposed population No people in Category 1 or higher
Maximum wind speed 93 km/h Tropical storm
Maximum storm surge 1.6 m (21 Sep 10:00 UTC)
Vulnerability Medium (Mexico)

GDACS Score

For more info on GDACS alert score click here.
Wind Storm surge Rainfall GDACS score
GDACS NOAA 46 km/h 1.2 m n.a. 0.5
Single TC: maximum expected impact (wind, storm surge, rainfall)
HWRF 130 km/h 1.5 m 674 mm 0.5
GFS 108 km/h 1.3 m 538 mm 0.5
ECMWF 101 km/h 1.5 m 700 mm 0.5
Maximum expected impact (wind, storm surge and rainfall) using different data sources.
Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
Satellite products
Analytical products
USA - Tropical Storm BETA (ECHO 21 Sep 2020)Mon, 21 Sep 2020 13:06

  • A new tropical storm named BETA, formed over the Gulf of Mexico on 18 September and started moving north toward the coastal area of Texas (USA). On 21 September, its centre was located over the Gulf, approximately 230 km east of Corpus Christi, and approximately 180 km south of Galveston, with maximum sustained wind of 95 km/h.
  • BETA is forecast to continue to north-west and to make landfall over Port Lavaca Town on 21 September late in the evening (UTC), with maximum sustained wind of 85-90 km/h. It is expected to turn north-east inland over southeastern Texas, and southern Louisiana on 22-24 September, weakening as a tropical depression.
  • Heavy rain and strong wind are forecast over southern Texas, southern Louisiana, and the Lower Mississippi Valley on 21-22 September. Storm surges are also forecast over coastal areas of Texas and Louisiana. NOAA has issued a storm surge warning over these areas. A tropical storm warning is also in effect over southern Texas and southern Louisiana.
USA - Tropical Storm BETA update (ECHO 22 Sep 2020)Tue, 22 Sep 2020 13:10

  • Tropical storm BETA made landfall over Matagorda Bay (central coastal Texas) on 22 September, with maximum sustained wind of 75 km/h. On 22 September, its centre was located inland over Port Lavaca Town, and approximately 150 km  south-west of the Houston area, with maximum sustained wind of 65 km/h.
  • Media report, as of 22 September, around 2,800 customers without power in League City (south of Houston area).
  • BETA is forecast to continue to inland and along the central and eastern coastal area of Texas on 23 September, weakening. Afterthat, it is expected to pass over southern Louisiana, and south-western Mississippi on 24 September, as a tropical depression.
  • Heavy rain and strong wind are forecast over southern Texas, southern Louisiana, and southern Mississippi on 22-24 September. Storm surges are also forecast over coastal areas of Texas and Louisiana over the next 24 hours. NOAA has issued a storm surge warning over central and eastern coastal area of Texas. A tropical storm warning is also in effect over southern Texas and southern Louisiana.
Detailed event map. European Union, 2024. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

Updates on volcanic activity (Smithsonian)

Latest media headlines

Are There Any Hurricanes Brewing? 9/26/2020 8:41:00 PM.

Extreme Weather: Are There Any Hurricanes Or Tropical Storms Approaching The US? While people in areas typically affected by wildfires, hurricanes, and tropical storms may believe they are finally in the clear due to the lack of activity
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Houston inondée par Beta, la saison cyclonique est encore longue 9/26/2020 7:41:00 AM.

On voit, à partir des images satellites, que les États-Unis sont actuellement assaillis sur deux fronts par les catastrophes naturelles. À l’ouest, de gigantesques incendies contraignent des centaines de milliers de personnes à quitter leur
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Flooding outside flood zones more common in minority neighborhoods 9/26/2020 4:23:00 AM.

By Kevin T. Smiley, Louisiana State University. When hurricanes and other extreme storms unleash downpours like Tropical Storm Beta has been doing in the South, the floodwater doesn’t always stay within the government’s flood risk zones. Ne
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Essay: Homes flooding outside 100-year flood zones show racial... 9/25/2020 11:19:00 PM.

When hurricanes and other extreme storms unleash downpours like Tropical Storm Beta has been doing in the South, the floodwater doesn’t always stay within the government’s flood risk zones. New research suggests that nearly twice as many pr
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Estimated casualties (PAGER)

USGS estimates the number of casualties for each earthquake for the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) product.
The graph shows the current fatalities estimate.

Exposed population

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (38), (2), DesInventar (1), WMO (1), INFORM (2),