University of Houston geologists discover significant coastal impacts within months of Hurricane Beryl’s landfall in Texas

We’re only beginning to understand how Hurricane Beryl has literally changed the landscape of Southeast Texas since making landfall in June.

A team from the University of Houston discovered extensive erosion in multiple areas in just a few months.

On October 31, the group released a study showing the impact of the Category 1 hurricane on the Texas coast.

Researchers say Sargent Beach has suffered the greatest impact and is now unrecognizable from what it looked like in May.

“The flooding, flooding and steep slopes caused by Beryl have wiped out almost all the dunes and made the area virtually inaccessible,” said Shuhub Khan, professor of geology in the UH College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

In the video player above, high-resolution images show what Galveston, Follett Island, Matagorda and Sargent Beach looked like before and after Beryl made landfall.

Khan said he and his team discovered that Follett Island was also hit hard.

“Follett had a restored dune system, but most of the sand was scraped away, leaving bare hay bales,” Khan said.

An earlier study by Khan’s team on the coastal impacts of Hurricane Harvey in 2017 revealed similar but more significant changes.

“After Harvey, we found an average shoreline retreat of just over 55 feet, with certain areas near the Rockport landfall site seeing nearly 200 feet of erosion,” Khan said. “These values ​​well exceed the short- and long-term average retreat rates of 4 feet per year off the Texas coast.”

According to the geologists, this emphasizes the need for proactive dune management.

In addition to documenting coastal erosion, the team’s research aims to inform future mitigation strategies.

“Our ongoing research shows that restored dunes along the Texas coast are vulnerable to major storms,” Khan said. “It highlights the need for adaptive, proactive dune management and regular monitoring to assess the sustainability of these restoration efforts.”

While Texas continues to face natural threats, Khan said he hopes the research will highlight the urgent need for innovative solutions to protect vulnerable dunes, wildlife habitats and coastal communities.

“The data we collect helps us quantify erosion, track restoration progress and improve predictive models for storm damage,” Khan said. “Efforts such as the ‘Ikedijk’ and dune restoration are crucial, but our research shows that some areas remain very vulnerable.”