CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) – Hurricane Hanna roared ashore off the Texas gulf coast on Saturday, bringing winds that hit the coast with rain and storms, and even threatening to bring potential tornadoes to part of the country trying to make against a peak in coronavirus cases.
The first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season made landfall twice as a Category 1 storm on Saturday afternoon in a span of just over an hour. The first landing occurred around 5 pm, about 15 miles (24 km) north of Port Mansfield, which is located about 130 miles (209 km) south of Corpus Christi. The second landing took place near eastern Kenedy County. Hanna had reached land with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (145 km / h). As of Saturday night, those winds had weakened to 75 mph (120 km / h).
Many parts of Texas, including areas near where Hanna landed, have been dealing with a surge in coronavirus cases in recent weeks, but local authorities said they were prepared for what the storm might bring.
Chris Birchfield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Brownsville, said residents should remain vigilant. While Hanna’s winds were expected to weaken Saturday night, the real threat from the storm was still heavy rain, she said.
“We’re not even close to finishing at this point. We are still waiting for catastrophic floods, ”said Birchfield.
Forecasters said Hanna could bring 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimeters) of rain through Sunday night, with an isolated total of 18 inches (46 centimeters), in addition to coastal waves that could cause threatening waves life and rip current conditions.
Some areas of South Texas reported receiving up to 9 inches (23 centimeters) of rain, including Cameron County, which borders Mexico and where Brownsville is located. Rainfall totals were expected to increase overnight and through Sunday.
“It’s been all day,” Melissa Elizardi, a spokeswoman for Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, said of the rain.
In a tweet, President Donald Trump said his administration was monitoring Hanna, along with Hurricane Douglas, which was headed for Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean.
Sherry Boehme, who lives in a condo along the beach in Corpus Christi, said the approach of the storm had increased the anxiety she felt during the pandemic. The 67-year-old man has stayed mainly at home due to health problems related to chronic lung disease.
“It is almost like a double whammy for us,” Boehme said Saturday by phone. “I think it has made a lot of people nervous. … We’ll get through it. They are all good and strong and they stick together. “
Hanna came almost three years after Hurricane Harvey made landfall northeast of Corpus Christi. Hanna was not expected to be as destructive as Harvey, who killed 68 people and caused estimated damage of $ 125 billion in Texas.
The first responders in Corpus Christi proactively put up barricades near intersections to get them ready if the streets started to flood, Mayor Joe McComb said. According to AEP Texas, more than 43,700 people across South Texas, including Corpus Christi, Harlingen, and Brownsville, were without power Saturday night.
Corpus Christi is in Nueces County, where health officials made the headlines when they revealed that 60 babies tested positive for COVID-19 from July 1-16.
Further south in Cameron County, more than 300 new confirmed cases have been reported almost daily for the past two weeks, according to state health figures. The past week has also been the deadliest pandemic in the county.
Coastal states struggled this spring to adjust hurricane emergency plans to account for the virus, and Hanna was presented as the first major test.
South Texas officials’ plans for possible storm rescue, shelter, and monitoring will keep the pandemic in mind and incorporate guidelines for social distancing and wearing masks.
Governor Greg Abbott said Saturday that shelters would be made in hotel rooms so that people could separate.
“We cannot allow this hurricane to trigger a more catastrophically deadly event by fueling the further spread of COVID-19 that could lead to deaths,” said Abbott.
Cameron County planned to open at least three evacuation shelters. Other counties and cities across South Texas had also opened shelters, and many required face masks.
Various resources and personnel to respond to the storm were on hold throughout the state, including search and rescue teams and aircraft. Mobile teams were also deployed that can continue to test COVID-19.
Abbott said he issued a disaster declaration for 32 counties in Texas and asked the federal government to approve a similar declaration.
Tornadoes were also possible Saturday night for parts of the low to mid-Texas coastal plain, forecasters said. A hurricane warning was in effect for Port Mansfield to Baffin Bay, south of Corpus Christi, and a tropical storm warning was in effect from Port Mansfield to the south to Barra el Mezquital, Mexico, and from Baffin Bay to the north to Port O’Connor .
The northeastern states of Mexico, the coast of Tamaulipas and Nuevo León, just to the west, also took precautions before the arrival of the storm. Tamaulipas disinfected the shelters to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the state governor, Francisco Cabeza de Vaca, tweeted. Meanwhile, the civil protection department was sending rescue boats and other equipment to northern Nuevo León because heavy rains were expected.
David León, national director of the civil protection department, told Milenio TV on Saturday that up to 800 shelters could be activated in parts of Mexico that could be affected by Hanna.
In the Mexican city of Matamoros, which is located in Tamaulipas and across the border from Brownsville, Texas, volunteers kept a close eye on Hanna, worried that the storm could affect an impromptu migratory camp near the Rio Grande, where nearby than 1,300 asylum seekers, including newborn babies and elderly residents, have been waiting under the United States immigration policy informally known as “Stay in Mexico”.
Meanwhile, Douglas was expected to be near the main Hawaiian Islands on Saturday night and will move to parts of the state on Sunday and Monday. A hurricane warning was in effect for Oahu County.
___
Lozano reported from Houston. Associated Press writer Maria Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.
___
Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
