WATCH LIVE: Hurricane Hanna bearing down on South Texas coast
Hanna became a hurricane Saturday morning shortly before 7 a.m.
HOUSTON — Hurricane Hanna is bearing down on the South Texas coast now. And as of 10 a.m., it had strengthened to have maximum sustained winds of 80 miles per hour. That’s still a Category 1 hurricane.
LIVE VIDEO ABOVE IS FROM OUR SISTER STATION, KIII-TV in Corpus Christi.
The storm is expected to make landfall south of Corpus Christi early this afternoon.
Hanna continues to move west, but it’s slowed down a little to 7 miles an hour. The forecast cone has it south of Corpus Christi, but effects of the storm are being felt all across the Texas coast.
The KHOU weather team and National Hurricane Center are tracking the storm, as well as Tropical Storm Gonzalo which is expected to dissipate over the next couple days.
Get the updates on each below.
Hurricane Hanna
Hurricane Hanna is bearing down on the South Texas coast. There is a hurricane warning in effect from Baffin Bay to Mesquite Bay. At 10 a.m. Saturday, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 80 miles per hour. It continues its westerly track, but has slowed to 7 miles per hour. Landfall should happen early afternoon.
Rain bands band be seen across the coastal area of southeast Texas. Stronger storms are down towards the Coastal Bend, with a very strong band on the south side of Hanna, according to the National Weather Service. Storms in these rain bands can train over the same area, which could lead to flooding.
In Brazoria County, all beaches are closed to vehicles because of extremely high tides.
In Houston, we may only get 1 to 3 inches of rain widespread through the weekend. Closer to the coast, we may get 5 inches of rain. This is an improvement from when the forecast track was farther north, and Houston was in the cone of uncertainty.
The earlier Tropical Storm Watch for areas in Harris and Galveston counties has now been canceled, the National Weather Service in League City says.
Tropical Storm Watches and Warnings are still in effect, however, for parts of the Texas coast farther south heading toward Corpus Christi.
Tropical Storm Gonzalo in Atlantic
The second area that we are tracking is Tropical Storm Gonzalo. It is moving westward out of the Atlantic and into the Caribbean sea, but losing its punch.
A first glance at the cone looks like it could be bad news for the Gulf of Mexico, but the National Hurricane Center says Gonzalo is “tiny” and could dissipate over the weekend, making it not a major threat to land at this time.
As of the 5 a.m. update on Saturday, Gonzalo had winds of 40 mph and is moving west at 18 mph.