Hurricane Beryl leaves 8 dead after slamming Texas, including ‘cheerful’ Houston police employee
A Houston police employee was one of at least eight people who died after Hurricane Beryl ravaged the Texas coast and parts of Louisiana — with victims killed by downed trees or caught in rising flood waters.
As the gulf states recover from the destruction caused by the Category 1 storm, the Houston Police Department confirmed that information security officer Russell Richardson, 54, was among those killed in the storm on Monday.
Officials said Richardson, a father-of-four, “was caught in rising flood waters and tragically lost his life.” Texas Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick previously stated that the officer drowned in an underpass while on his way to work.
Two of Richardson’s coworkers spoke with The Post about him, saying that they never expected him to end up in that situation because he was very “risk averse.”
“It really came as a shock. Russell is an information security officer, so he’s risk averse… and we were very surprised that what happened happened,” Viet Dang, Richardson’s boss said, describing him as a hard worker, who was vital to the force.
Richardson, an Air Force veteran, leaves behind a wife and four children, John Coyne, deputy director of information technology for the Houston Police said.
“He was kind of gregarious, real pleasant, real cheerful guy. He loved talking about his kids. Just Thursday, he was showing me pictures of his daughter, who he had had the opportunity of taking to Las Vegas for her birthday,” Coyne said.
Along with Richardson, Harris County officials confirmed that a 53-year-old man and a 74-year-old woman were killed in two separate incidents when trees fell on their homes in the Houston area.
The 74-year-old victim was later identified as grandmother Maria Laredo, who was living with her son and daughter-in-law.
The same fate befell another woman in Louisiana’s Bossier Parish when a tree fell on her home, according to the local sheriff’s office.
Officials in Texas’ Montgomery County confirmed the other three deaths, including one man who was also struck by a tree while operating a tractor and two people whose bodies were found inside a tent in Magnolia.
Beryl, the season’s earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, ravaged a broad swatch of the Caribbean. Though it was weakened from its peak strength, it still hit Texas with deadly force — bringing devastating floods and 80 mph winds to the southeast coastline.
The storm left more than 2.7 million homes without power in Texas while spanning, with only about half regaining power by Wednesday.
While the storm has been downgraded to a tropical depression, millions of Americans living from Arkansas to Michigan are still under a flood warning as the storm moves northeast.
Beryl is expected to deliver up to five inches of rain to the areas, according to the National Weather Service, with severe weather forecasted for parts of western Kentucky and southern Illinois and Indiana.
The remnants of the storm is expected to bring rain to western New York late Wednesday and into Thursday.
With Post wires
