International- Early Sunday, the US National
Hurricane Center announced thatHurricane Hanna is now under a Tropical Storm status. - On Saturday, the US National Hurricane Center declared Hurricane Hanna as the first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.
- On Sunday,
Texas GovernorGreg Abbott announced that that the Federal Emergency Management Agency and President DonaldTrump approved the state's Federal Emergency Declaration request for Public Assistance Category B (Emergency Protective Measures), CBS affiliate KENS reported.
Early Sunday, the US National Hurricane Center announced that Hurricane Hanna is now under a Tropical Storm status.
—National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) July 26, 2020
On Saturday, the US National Hurricane Center declared Hurricane Hanna as the first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. By 4 PM CDT, the center issued an advisory, saying that Hurricane Hanna is "expected to produce heavy rains" in southern Texas and northeastern Mexico, the center warned that the rain will result in "life-threatening flash flooding" and "isolated minor to moderate river flooding."
Shortly after the advisory, the center announced that the hurricane made two landfalls on Padre Island and Kenedy County, Texas. The hurricane continued to move inward over southern Texas, according to the center's updates.
The National Hurricane Center declared Hurricane Hanna back to a tropical storm roughly an hour past midnight Sunday CDT.
—National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) July 26, 2020
As of Sunday morning, the center has issued an advisory that stated that while "additional heavy rainfall will continue to cause life-threatening flash flooding over south Texas and northern Mexico," storm surge on the Texas coast should "continue to diminish."
Hurricane Hanna impacts Texas, which is already struggling with public safety and health issues in the wake of the coronavirupandemic. On Saturday, Johns Hopkins reported over 390,000 total cases of coronavirus in Texas. At the end of June, Texas Governor Greg Abbott put a halt to the state's reopening plan as coronavirus cases surged with the state reporting thousands of new cases each day.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at a Saturday afternoon press conference that "We cannot allow this hurricane to lead to a more catastrophically deadly event by stoking additional spread of Covid-19."
On Sunday, the governor announced that that the Federal Emergency Management Agency and President Donald Trump approved the state's Federal Emergency Declaration request for Public Assistance Category B (Emergency Protective Measures), CBS affiliate KENS reported. Category B allows for federal funding to supplement states with financial assistance to support emergency protective measures that are "taken by a community before, during, and following a disaster to save lives," according to FEMA.
- Read more:
- Houston surpassed 40,000 coronavirus cases. Over half of them have been reported in July alone.
- Storm Hanna forms in Gulf of Mexico, barrels toward Texas
- US coronavirus cases are probably 10 times higher than the official numbers, more and more research suggests
- Lawyers in Florida are offering free wills for teachers. One says he received about 600 inquiries.