The feared devastation has failed to materialize: Hurricane “Douglas” has passed Hawaii. The situation is different in Texas, where hurricane “Hanna” is raging: The US state declared a state of emergency.
Hurricane “Douglas” spared Hawaii. As reported by the United States National Weather Service, the eye of the cyclone on Sunday evening in United States local time was approximately 160 kilometers northwest of Honolulu, the capital of the US state of Hawaii. The meteorologists canceled the hurricane warnings for all islands.
“Douglas” had come dangerously close to the Pacific archipelago with wind speeds of up to 140 kilometers per hour, so that severe devastation and flooding were initially expected.
According to the US Weather Service, such damage could have already occurred if the storm had only reached 30 to 50 kilometers south of Hawaii. Shelters had been opened in Honolulu.
Texas emergency
Unlike Hawaii, Texas was out of luck. In the US state, an emergency was declared due to hurricane “Hanna”. The first Atlantic storm of the hurricane season had weakened overland to a low pressure area over the weekend. However, the U.S. Weather Agency continued to warn of heavy rain and flooding.
Electricity pylons were torn down and houses were covered, especially in the coastal region. In southern Texas, there was a power outage in more than 250,000 households.
Mexico also affected
However, the storm caused devastation not only in Texas, but also in the Mexican border area. A maternity hospital in the Mexican city of Reynosa was damaged and water had to be pumped out.
In some cases, more than 300 liters of water per square meter fell from the sky in the region. There have been no reports of deaths from either Texas or Mexico. However, four people are missing in Mexico.
Meteorologists expect many hurricanes
According to a forecast from May, the US weather agency NOAA expects an above-average active hurricane season over the Atlantic this year.
From June to the end of November, up to ten hurricanes are expected. Of these, up to six could be very strong cyclones.
There are an average of six hurricanes per year across the Atlantic, three of which are becoming storms of great magnitude.
