Hurricane Hanna made a furious entry into South Texas on Saturday, but by early Sunday it had weakened to a tropical storm as it moved inland.
But deep concern over a 32-county area that would be affected by the storm was expected to continue with heavy rain and flooding throughout the weekend.
“We are not even close to finishing right now,” Chris Birchfield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told The Associated Press.
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President Trump wrote on Twitter Saturday night that the White House was closely monitoring Hanna, as well as Hurricane Douglas, which was approaching Hawaii.
Hanna was an unwelcome guest for Texas, a state that has already been hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
The hurricane, the first of the 2020 Atlantic cyclone season, made landfall twice on Saturday afternoon as a Category 1 hurricane, both times in just over an hour. Her initial landing came around 5 p.m. local time on Father Island, then her second landing came in Kenedy County around 6:15 p.m., the Corpus Christi Caller Times reported.
A man holds his front with his umbrella as he battles heavy rain and wind on Seawall Boulevard in Galveston, Texas on Saturday July 25, 2020. (Associated Press)
HURRICANE HANNA MAKES LAND IN TEXAS
But by 1 a.m. Sunday, the 90 mph gusts of wind that Hanna brought with her when she touched down had dropped to around 70 mph, reducing Hanna’s status to a tropical storm, according to the National Hurricane Center .
At the time, the tropical storm was about 30 miles north-northwest of McAllen, Texas, moving about 9 miles per hour, the center reported.
Hours earlier, before it officially made landfall, its ferocity was evident on Saturday afternoon in Nueces County, where the force of the hurricane caused the collapse of Bob Hall Pier, according to a Facebook post from the Emergency Services District of the Nueces County District 2.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott released a disaster declaration Saturday for 32 counties expected to feel the impact of the hurricane, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Heavy rains were expected in the region throughout the weekend.
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Forecasters forecast rainfall of up to 12 inches through Sunday night, and some areas recorded up to 18 inches. Cameron County, near the Mexican border, which includes Brownsville, had already seen nine inches of rain, the AP reported.
Despite her strength, Hanna was not expected to be as destructive as Hurricane Harvey, the Category 4 hurricane that devastated Texas and Louisiana in August 2017. Harvey left 68 Texans dead and causing $ 125 billion in damage to the state. , the AP reported.
