MEXICO CITY/HOUSTONdeadbydaylightroulette, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Hurricane Beryl moved into the Gulf of Mexico on Friday after battering Mexico's resort town of Tulumdeadbydaylightroulette, causing material damage but no casualties, and is expected to hit the U.S. state of Texas by late Sunday or early Monday, meteorologists said.

In a press conference on Friday afternoon, Mexico reported zero casualties due to Hurricane Beryl, said Laura Velazquez, head of Mexico's civil protection agency, adding that electricity had been 70 percent restored and would be fully recovered by Sunday.

Beryl hit Tulum as a Category 2 hurricane before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved across the Yucatan Peninsula in southeast Mexico.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center expects the storm to regain hurricane strength in the Gulf's warm waters and make landfall in south Texas by late Sunday or early Monday.

Ahead of Beryl's landfall in Texas, Acting Governor Dan Patrick issued disaster declarations for 40 counties on Friday.

"This is a determined storm that is still strong," Patrick said at a news conference. "Everyone along the coast should be paying attention to this storm. We pray, and we hope for nothing more than a rain event. But even a rain event may be very heavy."

Beryl became the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record Monday night when its winds increased to 160 mph as it barreled through the southeastern Caribbean, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Over 1 million people in the Caribbean have been affected by Hurricane Beryl, UN humanitarians said Friday.

Some 40,000 people have been affected in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, more than 110,000 people in Grenada, and 920,000 people in Jamaica, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, citing current estimates.

Earlier this week, Beryl left a path of destruction that killed at least 11 people across the Caribbean.■