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Hurricane Hanna pummels Texas coast

Adrees LatifAAP
Powerful winds overturned trucks as Hurricane Hanna left a trail of destruction in southern Texas.
Camera IconPowerful winds overturned trucks as Hurricane Hanna left a trail of destruction in southern Texas.

Hanna, the first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic season, has left a trail of destruction along the Texas coast, downing power lines, toppling part of the US-Mexico border wall and bringing torrential rains to the area.

Hanna came ashore on Padre Island on Saturday afternoon as a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity and later made a second landfall in Kenedy County, Texas.

It swept through a part of the state hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. It had weakened by Sunday to a tropical depression.

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 3.2km stretch of US Route 77 in Sarita, Texas, near the Mexican border.

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In Port Mansfield, 240km south of Padre Island, winds flattened sugarcane fields and levelled trees. Deer roamed the streets, stopping to nibble downed branches in the yards of homes, some that lost their roofs.

Heavy downpours of more than 30cm flooded roadways and swelled streams and rivers across south Texas, the National Weather Service said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

A video circulating on Twitter showed winds toppling a newly constructed portion of the border wall built between the United States and Mexico.

At one point, more than 283,000 homes and businesses were without electricity. But that figure fell to 203,000 by Sunday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us.

The storm was not expected to affect offshore oil and gas production. Energy companies have not evacuated workers or shut down production from their Gulf of Mexico platforms because of Hanna.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement on Sunday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency declared the storm a federal emergency and would help fund evacuation and shelter efforts.

"I continue to urge Texans to heed the guidance from their local leaders and follow best practices to keep themselves and their loved ones safe as severe weather continues to move through our communities," he said.

The Texas area struck by Hanna has struggled to contain outbreaks of COVID-19 in recent weeks. Cases along the state's coast have soared into the tens of thousands.

The storm was forecast to lose more steam as it moved across Texas and northeastern Mexico. On Sunday, weather watch officials cancelled the storm surge warning they had issued for the Texas coast.

Hanna still posed a threat, forecasters said, noting it could dump upward of 45cm of rain in isolated areas of southern Texas through Monday.

"This rain will produce life-threatening flash flooding, rapid rises on small streams, and isolated minor to moderate river flooding," the NHC said.

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