Hurricane Hanna hits South Texas

Over the weekend, Hanna brought winds of 50 mph and more than 12 inches of rain to parts of South Texas and northeastern Mexico, areas also dealing with a surge of coronavirus cases. The storm made landfall on Saturday on Padre Island, Texas, south of Corpus Christi but weakened to a tropical depression by Sunday night. Although Hanna destroyed boats, flooded streets, and knocked out power, no deaths have yet to be reported on either side of the border.

How has the coronavirus affected hurricane relief? The Red Cross opened more shelters with reduced capacities so that evacuees could adhere to social distancing measures. Volunteers and those seeking refuge had to undergo temperature checks as medical professionals remained on-site. Authorities set aside one community building for evacuees who had tested positive for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Douglas lashed the Hawaiian Islands overnight, moving into Hawaiian waters on Sunday evening as a Category 1 storm with sustained winds of 85 miles per hour.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Leigh Jones’ report about how Hurricane Harvey revealed problems with the federal government’s flood insurance program in 2017.

Editor’s Note: WORLD has updated this report since its initial posting