San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
VIRUS-WEARY TEXAS FACING CATEGORY 1 HURRICANE HANNA
Hurricane Hanna roared ashore onto the Texas Gulf Coast as a Category 1 storm on Saturday, bringing winds that lashed the shoreline with rain and storm surge, and even threatening to bring possible tornadoes to a part of the country trying to cope with a spike in coronavirus cases.
The first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season made landfall twice on Saturday afternoon within the span of little over an hour. The first landfall happened at around 5 p.m. about 15 miles north of Port Mansfield, which is about 130 miles south of Corpus Christi and about 70 miles north of Brownsville. The second landfall took place at around 6:15 p.m. in eastern Kenedy County, about 15 miles north-northwest of Port Mansfield. As of Saturday evening, it had maximum sustained winds of 90 mph.
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.
Corpus Christi Mayor Joe Mccomb said Saturday that he had seen some residents doing lastminute shopping for supplies, but he warned that if that hadn’t been done already, people should stay at home and ride out the storm.
“We’ve been staying at home for five months because of the corona(virus). So staying home doesn’t sound real popular, but right now this is a real important matter,” Mccomb said, adding that residents should remember to wear masks if they have to evacuate their homes.
Steady rain fell Saturday in Corpus Christi and the winds got stronger.
Sherry Boehme, who lives in a condo along the beach there, said the storm’s approach had increased the anxiety she has felt during the pandemic. The 67-yearold 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 Saturday 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.”
Boehme said she’d already felt 60 mph wind gusts at her condo and had seen a surge of water coming from the bay. Most people seemed to be staying home, as traffic was light, she said.
Judge Barbara Canales, Nueces County’s top elected official, said officials were highly concerned about storm surge that was already moving inland. Live webcam footage showed waves sweeping over popular Whitecap Beach near Corpus Christi hours before the hurricane was expected to make landfall.
First responders in Corpus Christi proactively placed barricades near intersections to have them ready to go if streets began to flood, Mccomb said. More than 35,000 people throughout South Texas, including Corpus Christi, Harlingen and Brownsville, were without power early Saturday evening, according to AEP Texas.
Corpus Christi is in Nueces County, where health officials made headlines when they revealed that 60 infants tested positive for COVID-19 from July 1 to July 16.
Farther south in Cameron County, which borders Mexico and where Brownsville is located, more than 300 confirmed new cases have been reported almost daily for the past two weeks, according to state health figures. The past week has also been the county’s deadliest of the pandemic.
The main hazard from Hanna was expected to be flash flooding. Forecasters said Hanna could bring 6 to 12 inches of rain through Sunday night — with isolated totals of 18 inches — in addition to coastal swells that could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.
Coastal states scrambled this spring to adjust emergency hurricane plans to account for the virus, and Hanna loomed as the first big test.
South Texas officials’ plans for any possible rescues, shelters and monitoring of the storm will have the pandemic in mind and incorporate social-distancing guidelines and mask-wearing.
Gov. Greg Abbott said Saturday that some sheltering would take place in hotel rooms so people could be separated.