Hurricane Hanna to make landfall in Texas; Douglas nears Hawaii
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Hanna, the first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, is expected to make landfall early Saturday evening on the Texas coast.
The storm will make landfall south of Baffin Bay near Kingsville between 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. CDT Saturday, the National Weather Service in Corpus Christi reports. The western part of the eye of Hanna is expected to arrive at 2 p.m. CDT.
Tropical Storm Hanna morphed into a hurricane on Saturday morning, bringing the threat of a dangerous storm surge before weakening quickly inland, forecasters said.
A hurricane warning was in effect from Port Mansfield to Mesquite Bay, Texas.
As of 1 p.m. CDT Saturday, the storm was moving west at 8 mph and producing up to 80 mph sustained winds. It was located about 53 miles off of Baffin Bay. The forecasters said some “slight strengthening” was still possible before Hanna makes landfall.
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Local officials already battling the growing coronavirus threat in the state say they are prepared for whatever the storm may deliver.
“And don’t feel like since we’ve been fighting COVID for five months, that we’re out of energy or we’re out of gas. We’re not,” Corpus Christi Mayor Joe McComb said Friday. “We can do these two things together and we’re going to win both of them.”
By early afternoon, the storm had knocked out power to nearly 20,000 customers in four counties along the coastline, according to poweroutage.us.
Hanna is expected to produce 6 to 12 inches of rain with isolated maximum totals of 18 inches through Sunday night in south Texas, the National Hurricane Center said.
“This rain may result in life-threatening flash flooding, rapid rises on small streams, and isolated minor to moderate river flooding,” the NHC warned.
Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday that the state “will coordinate with local officials to provide assistance and resources to communities in the area.” He urged those in the path “to heed the warnings and guidance from local officials.”
Hanna broke the record as the earliest eighth Atlantic named storm; The previous record was Harvey on Aug. 3, 2005, Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach tweeted.
Hawaii braces for Hurricane Douglas
Though still hundreds of miles from Hawaii, the state was bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Douglas, which was expected to move across the island chain on Sunday.
Hawaii Gov. David Ige issued a state of emergency as the storm approached.
At 10 a.m. CDT Saturday, Hurricane Douglas was 440 miles east of Hilo and packing maximum sustained winds of 105 mph. It’s expected to weaken as it passes over cooler water but meteorologists warn that strong winds, heavy rainfall and dangerous surf could afflict the entire state beginning Sunday.
Local authorities in Hawaii were urging most people to shelter at home if they can. John Cummings, the public information officer for Honolulu Emergency Management, said that going to a city-run shelter should be a last resort.
Read this: A busy hurricane season and the coronavirus pandemic ‘is a cataclysmic scenario’
Tropical Storm Gonzalo loses bid as Atlantic’s first hurricane of the season
Tropical Storm Gonzalo weakened as it moved toward the Windward Islands of the Caribbean on Saturday, losing prospects of becoming the Atlantic’s first hurricane of the season, the hurricane center said.
As of 1 p.m. CDT Saturday, Gonzalo was about 50 miles northwest of Trinidad, packing sustained winds of 35 mph as the storm moved to the west at 25 mph.
The system is expected to dissipate by Sunday night or Monday after moving over the southeastern Caribbean Sea, according to the center.
Gonzalo is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 1 to 3 inches, with isolated maximum amounts of 5 inches in Barbados and the Windward Islands through Sunday night, the NHC said.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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