Tropical Storm — Southern Hidalgo County, Texas

2020-07-25 to 2020-07-26 · Southern Hidalgo County, Texas

Event narrative

The slowly weakening inner eyewall of Hurricane Hanna eased into southern Hidalgo County along the Willacy County line during the evening of July 25th and would exit the southwest corner of the county just before daybreak on the 26th. Widespread wind damage was noted in more than a dozen colonias from near Elsa/Edcouch to north of Edinburg (San Carlos to Doolittle), including damage to roofs, walls, shingles, and windows to dozens of poorly constructed/anchored homes severely damaged and at least a dozen (that were seen on survey) were demolished. Hundreds of trees and dozens of power poles were damaged (leaning or snapped), and power outages across this area were likely to be around 150 thousand in total. NCEI's total dollar damage estimate (divided among the affected counties by local storm data experts) was $299.25 million for Southern Hidalgo County, and public assistance dollars due to wind were estimated at $5.7 million.

An automated sensor several miles northeast of Elsa (Texas AgriScience Center platform) reported a peak gust to 80 mph as the southern inner eyewall crossed at 1005 PM CST. Peak winds at McAllen/Miller Airport were 39 mph (at 245 CST on the 26th), but a peak gust of 60 mph was recorded at 928 PM CST on the 25th. Additional gusts between 40 and 50 mph occurred through the night as the eastern eyewall of the weakened system (a tropical storm) oozed through southwest Hidalgo County. In general, peak winds were measured/estimated at 65 to 80 mph in the area near the Willacy County line, and 60 to 65 mph in the McAllen/Mission/Sullivan City area.

Wind damaged crops was also common in the Rio Grande Valley's breadbasket with an estimated $29.2 million in citrus and snapped sugar cane alone, based on an initial report from Texas Agrilife.

While there were no direct fatalities with Hanna in southern Hidalgo County, there were five indirect deaths in the recovery days following Hanna. Four in one family from carbon monoxide poisoning on July 27th, and one elderly man who fell from a ladder while attempting roof repairs on July 28th.

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 914182. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.