HANNA, the first Atlantic hurricane of the year, slammed into the coast of coronavirus-hit Texas yesterday, bringing heavy rains, storm surges and potentially life-threatening flash floods.

The Category 1 storm packed winds of 145kph as it came ashore on Padre Island at 2200 GMT, said the National Hurricane Centre (NHC).

“Hanna is expected to produce heavy rains across portions of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. These rains will result in life-threatening flash flooding” and some river flooding.

“Life-threatening storm surges will continue along portions of the Texas coast,” said the agency, with the surges potentially reaching 1.8m in some areas.

The hurricane could drop 145cm of rain through tomorrow on south Texas and the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and northern Tamaulipas.

Hanna roared ashore as Texas faces a huge surge in coronavirus infections, with officials instituting a statewide mask mandate to try and curb the spread of the disease.

The storm was 113km south of Corpus Christi, Texas, when it made landfall.

The city of 325,000, home to one of the largest Covid-19 outbreaks in the state, earlier closed libraries and museums as residents braced for Hanna, reported local media.

The US is the hardest-hit country in the coronavirus pandemic, with some 4.2 million cases, and authorities will have to figure out how to safely shelter residents forced out of their homes by future hurricanes this season.

Hanna is forecast to move inland over south Texas before entering northeastern Mexico today.

Two other storm systems were churning yesterday: Pacific Hurricane Douglas, bearing down on the Hawaiian islands, and Tropical Storm Gonzalo in the Atlantic, near the Windward Islands.

Douglas – at one point a powerful Category 4 hurricane – has weakened to Category 1.

NHC said the storm “will be near the main Hawaiian islands late tonight, and will move over parts of the state on Sunday and Monday”, bringing high winds, heavy surf and rainfall of up to 25cm.

A hurricane warning is in effect in Oahu.

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s government warned of heavy rains and gusting winds as Gonzalo moves west across the Caribbean.

Big waves have already started to pound the coast in eastern Venezuela, and power was knocked out in some areas yesterday, reported news outlets. – AFP, July 26, 2020.