South Texas was braced for flooding on Sunday after Hanna roared ashore as a hurricane the day before, bringing rain and storm surge to a part of the country trying to cope with a spike in cases of the coronavirus.
The first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic season made landfall twice as a category 1 storm on Saturday afternoon within the span of little over an hour. The first landfall happened at around 5pm about 15 miles north of Port Mansfield, which is about 130 miles south of Corpus Christi. The second landfall took place in eastern Kenedy county. Hanna came ashore with maximum sustained winds of 90mph.
Forecasters downgraded Hanna to a tropical storm early on Sunday. It had maximum sustained winds at 60mph, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
Many parts of Texas have been dealing with a surge in coronavirus cases but local officials said they were prepared for whatever the storm might bring.
Chris Birchfield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Brownsville, said residents needed to remain alert. Hanna’s winds weakened, but the storm’s real threat remained heavy rainfall.
“We’re not even close to over at this point,“ Birchfield said. “We’re still expecting catastrophic flooding.”
Forecasters said Hanna could bring 6in to 12in of rain through Sunday night, with isolated totals of 18in in addition to coastal swells that could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.
Some areas in South Texas had already reported receiving up to 9in of rain, including Cameron county, which borders Mexico and where Brownsville is located. Rainfall totals were expected to rise throughout the evening and into Sunday.
“It’s been all day,” Melissa Elizardi, a spokeswoman for Cameron county judge Eddie Trevino said of the rainfall.
In a tweet, Donald Trump said his administration was monitoring Hanna, along with Hurricane Douglas, which was heading toward Hawaii in the Pacific.
Sherry Boehme, who lives in a condo along the beach in Corpus Christi, said the storm’s approach had increased the anxiety she has felt during the pandemic. The 67-year-old has mostly stayed at home because of health issues related to chronic lung disease.
“It’s almost like a double whammy to us,” Boehme said by phone. “I think it’s made a lot of people nervous … We’ll get through it. Everybody is good and strong and sticks together.”
Hanna came nearly three years after Hurricane Harvey. Hanna was not expected to be as destructive as Harvey, which killed 68 people and caused an estimated $125bn in damage in Texas.
First responders in Corpus Christi proactively placed barricades near intersections to have them ready to go if streets began to flood, Mayor Joe McComb said. More than 43,700 people throughout south Texas, including Corpus Christi, Harlingen and Brownsville, were without poweron Saturday evening, according to AEP Texas.
The US coast guard was called to help with the rescue of a couple on a sailboat that was taking on water in a harbor near Corpus Christi, spokesperson Paige Hause said. A swiftwater rescue team assisted in getting the couple back to land without injuries.
Plans for rescues, shelters and monitoring of the storm will have the pandemic in mind and incorporate social distancing guidelines and mask wearing. Cameron county planned to open at least three evacuation shelters. Other counties and cities throughout south Texas had also opened shelters, with many requiring face masks.
Governor Greg Abbott said on Saturday that some sheltering would take place in hotel rooms so people could be separated.
“We cannot allow this hurricane to lead to a more catastrophically deadly event by stoking additional spread of Covid-19 that could lead to fatalities,” Abbott said.
Abbott said he has issued a disaster declaration for 32 counties in Texas and had asked the federal government to approve a similar declaration.
Tornadoes were possible overnight for parts of the lower to middle Texas coastal plain. A tropical storm warning was in effect on Sunday morning from Barra el Mezquital in Mexico to Baffin Bay, Texas. Earlier warnings and watches were discontinued, forecasters said.
Mexico’s north-eastern states, coastal Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon just to its west, also took precautions. Tamaulipas disinfected shelters to try to avoid spreading Covid-19, state governor Francisco Cabeza de Vaca said. Meanwhile, the civil protection department was sending rescue boats and other equipment to northern Nuevo Leon because heavy rains were expected.
In the Mexican city of Matamoros, which is in Tamaulipas and across the border from Brownsville, volunteers were keeping a close eye on Hanna, worried the storm could affect a makeshift migrant camp near the Rio Grande where about 1,300 asylum seekers, including newborn babies and elderly, have been waiting under the US immigration policy informally known as “Remain in Mexico”.
In the Pacific, Douglas was expected to be near the main Hawaiian Islands late Saturday night and would move over parts of the state on Sunday and Monday. A hurricane warning was in effect for Oahu county.
