PORT MANSFIELD (US) – The first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic season Hanna pummeled the Texas coast on Sunday, leaving a trail of destruction. It flooded streets and drowned power lines and toppled trailers.
Hanna made landfall on Padre Island on Saturday afternoon as a Category 1 hurricane on the five-notch Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity. It made second landfall in Kenedy County, Texas. By Sunday it had weakened to a tropical depression.
Powerful winds toppled three 18-wheeler trailers and a recreational vehicle. Tow trucks were trying to right the toppled vehicles on Sunday, forcing the closure of Powerful winds from Hanna knocked over at least three 18-wheeler trucks and a recreational vehicle, with tow trucks trying to right the toppled vehicles on Sunday, shutting down a 2-mile (3.2-km) stretch of Route 77 in Sarita, which is close to the Mexican border.
In Port Mansfield, 150 miles (240 km) south of Padre Island, large swathes of sugarcane plantations and trees were flattened.
According to the National Weather Service, heavy rainfall of more than 30 cm caused flooding of roads and swelling of streams and river.
There were no reports of people being injured.
A spokesperson for the US Customs and Border Protection in the Rio Grande Valley said that they were looking into reports of a portion of the border wall collapsing in the wind.
When the storm struck, more than 283,000 homes and businesses were left without power. However, that figure dropped to 98,000 by Sunday night.
Hanna did not affect offshore oil and gas production.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Sunday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had declared the storm a federal emergency and would provide funds for evacuation and shelter.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field