Tropical Storm Hanna: Corpus Christi, Nueces County officials warn residents to stay home

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Officials of Corpus Christi and Nueces County held a briefing Friday to update the public on Tropical Storm Hanna and what precautions citizens need to take.

The storm is set to make landfall Saturday with the potential to grow into a Category 1 Hurricane, according to the National Weather Service.

Mayor Joe McComb requested citizens monitor news outlets to know what the city and county advise and suggest on how to stay safe during the tropical storm. McComb has identified frequent flooded areas in the city with the street department and storm water systems.

“Those drainage systems have been cleaned out and ready to take as much capacity as is provided for them through the rain event,” McComb said. “They should have that work done before the rain really starts hitting.”

Mayor: Stay home during rainfall, keep roads clear for first-responders

Citizens are urged to stay home and not be out during rainfall, McComb said.

“If you happen to be out and come to an overpass that looks flooded, please turn around,” McComb said. “Don’t take a chance and stall your motor out. While our first-responders do a great job, they’re family people too.”

McComb said people need to do their job and stay home in order to prevent from putting first-responders in jeopardy from bad decisions.

Beaches in the city and county closed noon Friday and won’t reopen until 6 a.m. Monday.

“In the past, residents have been extremely helpful in following the suggestions we have,” McComb said. “If you recall, our number one emphasis during Hurricane Harvey was to have no fatalities and that’s our goal this time.”

If citizens decided to vacate from a low-lying area to a friend’s or family member’s house, McComb doesn’t want you to forget we’re still in a pandemic.

“Make sure you take extra masks and whatever else you need during this time,” McComb said. “We want to make sure no one exposes other people who aren’t sick and just add to our problems.”

Chance of flash floods, hurricane-force winds, tornadoes

City Manager Peter Zanoni said residents could possibly see activity from Tropical Storm Hanna tonight. Wind gusts could possibly be at hurricane force.

“Wind impacts could cause structural damage to un-anchored mobile homes, down trees and down power lines,” Zanoni said. “A flash flood watch has been issued for most of South Texas, and could result in several days of heavy rainfall.”

Depending on where the storm hits, isolated tornadoes are possible Saturday, Zanoni said.

“Yesterday, (The National Weather Service) put Corpus Christi, Port Aransas and another coastal town community as a more probable spot for the storm to be hitting directly,” Zanoni said. “Corpus Christi is still on there; Kingsville and Port Aransas (as well) have a probability of 40% for tropical storm force winds.”

Zanoni said there is potential for moderate flooding and erosion on local beaches, so people should not be ready to visit the shore Monday morning right away.

The City’s Customer Call Center will be open 24 hours over the next two days due to the storm, according to Zanoni. If there are fallen trees causing road hazards, flooding or any city type services wanting to be reported, call 361-826-2489.

Staying prepared for power outages, other emergencies

Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales said her three main points for the public are to be ready, stay informed and take no unnecessary risks. Canales said these bullet points apply to COVID-19 as well and any other emergency.

“Whether you are new to Nueces County or you’ve lived here all your life, I’m going to have you, and urge you, to look at a hurricane checklist,” Canales said. “Go through it in detail and verify it. Do you have a flashlight? Batteries?”

Power outages are always possible with this type of disturbance, Canales said.

“We’re in a potential disaster inside a current disaster,” Canales said.

Canales said people should protect their property by bring loose items from their yard inside to avoid possible projectiles during high winds.

With limited first-responders due to COVID-19, Canales stressed citizens to not put themselves in harms way.

“We don’t want to have to come rescue you if we can prevent that,” Canales said. “This is not the time to become a storm watcher. Rent the movie, but do not go out there and look for things because you’re going to put yourself in harm’s way. When you do, you’re putting our first responders in limited resource mobility.”

Nueces has set up a hotline, 361-414-6000, for information and help, Canales said. 

Billy Delgado, emergency management coordinator, said multiple city department have been working on their emergency plans to be ready for Tropical Storm Hanna.

“The EOC (Emergency Operations Center) will be activated tonight and will stay open until the event has concluded,” Delgado said. “Keeping in mind with COVID-19, we are socially distancing inside the EOC.”

Delgado said when it comes to being prepared, citizens need to remember important phone numbers.

“If your cell phone goes down and you lost power, and you only know your loved one by their name and not their number, there’s going to be a problem there,” Delgado said. “Write down all your important phone numbers, put them on an index card, put it in your wallet/purse and you’ll always have it.”

On plans for the homeless, Zanoni said shelters started yesterday with opening up more readily.

As for drainage, Zanoni said crews started yesterday in preparing to get systems cleaned and cleared out. Canales said she knows the county has major drainage system problems, and that’s not going to change overnight.

“This is why I’m concerned about this type of an event that has a significant flooding type of opportunity,” Canales said. “I will tell you, on the National Weather Service call, I think we might get a little lucky that our rivers can handle it, but our creeks are probably going to be the ones you see fill quickly.”

Zanoni said there will be no additional outreach to citizens in known flood zones, aside from the briefing.

In the midst of the pandemic, Zanoni said first responders will continue to wear PPE when it comes to any type of possible water rescues.

All four officials stressed the importance of Nueces County residents to sign up for Reverse Alerts. With over 326,000 people, only 20,000 signed up for weather, local emergencies and traffic updates.

To sign up, go to reversealert.org.

More: Tropical Storm Hanna: Follow live coverage of preparation along Texas Gulf coast

More: Tropical Storm Hanna: See the storm track on this map as it heads toward Texas landfall

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