2020’s first hurricane roars ashore in Covid-hit Texas

Local officials said that they were prepared for tropical storm

Corpus Christi (US), July 26: South Texas braced for flooding Sunday after Hanna roared ashore as a hurricane the day before, bringing winds that lashed the Gulf Coast with 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 cyclone 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 5 pm about 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of Port Mansfield, which is about 130 miles (209 km) south of Corpus Christi.

The second landfall took place nearby in eastern Kenedy County. Hanna came ashore with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (145 kph). Forecasters downgraded Hanna to a tropical storm early Sunday.

The storm had maximum sustained winds at 70 mph (115 kph), the National Hurricane Center said. Many parts of Texas, including areas near where Hanna came ashore, have been dealing with a surge in Coronavirus cases in recent weeks, but local officials said they were prepared for whatever the storm might bring.

Chris Birchfield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service 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 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimeters) of rain through Sunday night — with isolated totals of 18 inches (46 centimeters) — 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 9 inches (23 centimeters) 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 Treviño, said of the rainfall.