Houston, Sep 20 (IANS): As tropical storm Beta was approaching the US Gulf Coast at an accelerated speed, voluntary evacuation orders and a storm warning have been issued for parts of Texas.

According to the current projection, Beta will start approaching the lower Texas coastline by late Sunday evening, reports Xinhua news agency.

The voluntary evacuation orders were issued in Galveston County and the cities of Galveston and Seabrook.

According to the National Hurricane Centre, Beta was strengthening in the Gulf of Mexico, 495 km east-southeast of Corpus Christi, Texas, and 395 km south of Lake Charles, Louisiana as of Saturday.

Although Beta's exact path is still uncertain, coastal flooding from storm surge and inland flooding from heavy rain are possible for some areas in the US state.

The weather forecast showed increasing risk of heavy rain and flooding along the northwest Gulf Coast on Sunday through the middle of next week, as Beta is expected to move slowly toward and along, or offshore of the coast through that time.

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season has been a busy one.

The last name of this hurricane season was claimed on Friday. After that, Subtropical Storm Alpha and Beta formed.

The only other time storms reverted to the Greek alphabet was in the record-breaking 2005 hurricane season, according to US media reports.

Meanwhile, hurricane Teddy, which was centred 828 km/ph southeast of Bermuda on Saturday, remained a powerful storm, with maximum sustained winds at 193 kmph and moving northwest at 22 kmph.