Hurricane (Typhoon) — Willacy, Texas

2020-07-25 · Willacy, Texas

Event narrative

Hurricane Hanna moved across the western Gulf of Mexico and made landfall on the mid-Kenedy County coastline at around 5 PM Central Time Saturday, July 25th, carrying sustained 90 mph winds with gusts over 100 mph in a small portion of the inner eye wall. While there aren't many observations in Willacy County during this event, Buoy RSJT2 is just off the coastline in the Laguna Madre just north of Willacy County and can be used as a reasonable proxy. Based on the proxy observations, sustained winds likely reached near hurricane force (71 mph).With observations from RSJT2, along with radar analysis, it is reasonable to assume that portions of Willacy County experienced hurricane-force winds around 14:30 CST to 16:30 CST.

Substantial and widespread wind damage was noted in and near Raymondville. A damage survey estimated wind gusts in Raymondville to have reached 75 to 80 mph during the period of eyewall passage, though strong tropical storm force gusts continued well into the evening and overnight of July 25/26 as the back side feeder bands continued to pummel the county from Raymondville to Lyford to Lasara and Sebastian. A peak gust of 80 mph was recorded in neighboring Hidalgo County, a few miles southwest of the Hidalgo/Willacy County line, at 1005 PM CST July 25.

Damage included roof, shingle, and some wall damage to several dozen homes in Raymondville, as well as damage to farm buildings on the east side of town. 100 percent of the county was without power during the peak of the storm, due to dozens of snapped or leaning power poles and downed lines. Thousands of trees/limbs were snapped and dozens uprooted. A stadium light stanchion was ripped out of the ground by an eddy wind at Raymondville High School. Similar but lesser damage was seen in Lyford and Sebastian, where peak winds may have been closer to tropical storm force. Final individual assistance and insured property damage estimates for inland Willacy County were provided at the end of 2020 by NCEI. Local storm data experts partitioned the total damage estimate between the affected counties, and the portion for inland Willacy was $139.65 million. Public assistance damage estimates were $2.59 million.

Sustained crop damage costs associated with these damaging winds is estimated to be 34.6 million - a combination of citrus and sugar cane.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Hanna, the 2020 Atlantic season's first Hurricane, made landfall along the unpopulated Padre Island National Seashore on the mid-Kenedy County coastline as a Category 1 storm at around 5 PM Central Time Saturday, July 25th, carrying sustained 90 mph winds with gusts over 100 mph in a small portion of the inner eye wall. The hurricane spun slowly but steadily into southern Kenedy and northern Hidalgo County through just after midnight on the 26th, then through Starr County as a Tropical Storm before moving into Tamaulipas before daybreak and eventually near Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, by noon before dissipating during the evening of the 26th. Following the passage of the inner eye wall, broad feeder bands of torrential rains and gusty tropical storm force winds continued through the mid to late morning hours of July 26th, slowly migrating from east to west across the populated Rio Grande Valley.

Other than storm surge flooding, which peaked just north of Baffin Bay on the Kleberg and Nueces County coast near Corpus Christi, Hanna's memory for the Rio Grande Valley will be flooding rainfall, power outages, and an array of damage to poorly constructed buildings, from minor roof damage to complete demolition. Between 8 and 15 inches of rain fell from Port Mansfield to Harlingen, and along Interstate Highway 2 out through Mission and Sullivan City. The combination of high rainfall, locally high rainfall rates, and poor drainage left between 18 inches and four feet of water depth in many areas, most commonly from western Cameron through southeastern Hidalgo County, as well as a separate pocket in the Mission/La Joya/Sullivan City area. The rainfall wiped out 95% of the region's cotton crop; the combination of crop loss and production loss was more than one third of a billion dollars alone ($366 million)...most of which was in the Rio Grande Valley region.

At the peak of the storm, 250 thousand electric customers were without power, including all of Willacy County. Though storm surge was cut short by strong westerly flow across Cameron County, radiating swells did produce a notable surge of 3 feet or greater (estimated) from near Port Mansfield through Kenedy County. When the damage and economic loss is counted to infrastructure and agriculture combined, it is likely that Hanna cost at least one billion dollars across the Rio Grande Valley and the Deep S. Texas ranch country.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 913731. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.