GALVESTON, Texas (Reuters) – Hurricane Hanna winds hit the southern Texas coast early Sunday morning, leaving thousands of people without power before it was downgraded to a tropical storm that was still threatening flash flooding in the area that is already had been severely affected by COVID-19 infections.
FILE PHOTO: A girl covers her face from high winds as family members watch the high waves of Hurricane Hanna from a jetty in Galveston, Texas, USA, on July 25, 2020. REUTERS / Adrees Latif
Hanna made landfall on Father Island on Saturday afternoon as a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, and then made landfall a second time in Kenedy County, Texas.
More than 283,104 homes and businesses were without power as of mid-Sunday morning, according to poweroutage.us. But some locals took advantage of the wild weather, with Alejandero Carcano, 16, and Jesse Garewal, 18, both Galveston residents, surfing the high waves hit by Hanna.
Weakening as she headed west by land, Hanna was a tropical storm Sunday morning, with her center about 40 miles (65 km) from McAllen, Texas and about 65 miles (105 km) from Monterrey, Mexico, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
At 0400 CDT (0900 GMT), the storm’s maximum sustained winds were around 60 miles per hour (95 kph), the center said.
It is forecast to lose more steam as it moves through Texas and northeast Mexico, and on Sunday the weather noted that authorities canceled the storm warning they had issued for the Texas coast.
“Radar update at 7 a.m. M. – Showers with heavy rains were forming from Victoria extending the SE to the Gulf of Mexico, moving to the NW. Expect this trend to continue until mid-morning, ”the Corpus Christi office of the National Weather Service said on Twitter.
Hanna still posed a threat, the hurricane center said, noting that it could shed more than 18 inches (45 cm) of rain in the area through Monday.
“This rain will produce life-threatening flash floods, rapid increases in small currents, and isolated flooding of minor to moderate rivers,” the NHC said.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Saturday the storm was especially challenging as it spread through an area of the state that has been most affected by the coronavirus.
The Texas area hit by Hanna has struggled to contain COVID-19 outbreaks in recent weeks. Cases along the state’s coast have skyrocketed to tens of thousands.
More than 400 people in Corpus Christi were hospitalized with the disease on Friday, according to city data.
The storm was not expected to affect offshore oil and gas production. Power companies have not evacuated workers or shut down production from their Gulf of Mexico platforms because of Hanna.
Reports by Adrees Latif, Raissa Kasolowsky and Barbara Goldberg; Frances Kerry and Daniel Wallis edition
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