Hurricane Beryl made landfall as a Category 1 storm during the early hours of July 7 and has since caused several hospitals and health systems to adjust some services, CBS affiliate KHOU reported.
As of the morning of July 9, seven individuals in Texas and at least one in Louisiana were confirmed dead due to the storm.
Amid the conditions brought on by Beryl, many Houston-area hospitals closed or cut services July 8 and continue to monitor conditions. While the storm has now weakened to a tropical depression, it could still bring heavy rain, flooding and tornadoes to some areas, The Weather Channel reported.
"In terms of hospitals generally in the Houston and surrounding areas, there have been some challenges with staffing, with some hospital employees having a hard time getting to work or are dealing with their own homes, families and safety," a spokesperson for the Texas Hospital Association told Becker's. "There have been some sporadic hospital reports of power issues, wind, and water damage and some flooding that has impacted areas around some of the hospitals. But we are grateful that so far we have not heard of any more significant hospital damage at this point. And no reports of patient care being compromised, and of course, that’s the thing we focus on first and foremost in any emergency."
Houston Methodist had all its locations open as of the morning of July 8, and it noted on its website that if conditions worsen, patients will be contacted and alerted of changes to their care. The health system said it will make decisions regarding whether to continue with elective surgeries on the evening of July 8. There were no new updates as of the morning of July 9.
HCA Houston also has guidelines for patients related to hurricanes and "contracts with vendors from around the state and nation to provide support from on-site security to generators and food for our patients and staff," the health system said. "Transfer processes and plans with our network of hospitals across the country also exist should patients need to be relocated." There were no new updates as of the morning of July 9.
The University of Texas Medical Branch, based in Galveston, closed its clinics as of the evening of July 7 and canceled elective surgeries and procedures for July 8. It added that one urgent care location would open at noon Central time July 8Monday, while others will be closed. However, its hospitals and emergency departments in Galveston, Angleton Danbury, League City and Clear Lake will be open. As of July 9, UTMB confirmed it is experiencing "a power-related telephone issue is currently affecting all calls to and from UTMB."
KHOU reported July 8 that the following services at Houston-area hospitals were affected:
- Legacy Community Health clinics — closed July 8, telehealth available.
- Baylor College of Medicine — open at noon Central time.
- Michael E. Debakey VA Medical Center — closed July 8 for outpatient appointments. Other VA locations and clinics will also be closed July 9.
- MD Anderson — closed for patient appointments July 8 with exception for urgent procedures at Texas Medical Center campus.
- Texas Children's — open as normal.
- Memorial Hermann — closed July 8.
- Harris Health — Ben Taub and Lyndon B. Johnson hospitals will remain open, but all outpatient and clinic locations are closed July 8.
Prior to the storm making landfall, the Texas Hospital Association spokesperson said that "hospitals had brought online their emergency planning and response command centers last week and had been monitoring the storm’s movement," she noted. "They made decisions about how to shuffle patient placement if needed and followed their procedures to ensure the storm didn’t interrupt medical services."