US: Tropical Storm Beta floods Houston streets

Tropical Storm Beta made landfall on the Texas coast late Monday night.

The storm made landfall about 5 miles (8 kilometers) north of Port O'Connor, Texas, with maximum winds of 45 mph (72 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Its winds weakened as it made its way to shore over several days.

Beta was the ninth named storm that made landfall in the continental U.S. this year. That tied a record set in 1916, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. This was the first time a Greek letter named storm made landfall in the continental U.S. Forecasters ran out of traditional storm names on Friday, forcing the use of the Greek alphabet for only the second time since the 1950s.

The biggest unknown from Beta was how much rainfall it could produce in areas that have already seen their share of damaging weather during a busy hurricane season.

Rain had already fallen in Houston and other areas down the Texas coast on Monday before Beta came ashore. Video from Houston on Monday night showed some vehicles stuck on flooded streets, with others driving into the water before backing out.