Tropical Storm Hanna to make landfall in South Texas between Corpus Christi
and Brownsville--rainfall totals of over 5 inches are possible in these areas
along the coast and inland as far as Laredo, with locally higher amounts where
bands of rain stall for a period of a few hours. A few communities could
receive up to 15 inches of rainfall leading to dangerous flash flooding
and some river flooding. The RC View map below shows current rainfall
projections as well as the establishment of DR 489-21 to respond.
Friday
night, Hanna was less than 200 miles from the Texas coast, and the National
Weather Service has issued a Hurricane Warning from Baffin Bay northward to
Mesquite Bay, Texas, including Corpus Christi. We’re planning for about
1,800 people seeking shelter from the American Red Cross in Texas over the next
few days, and we’re working tonight with the State of Texas to coordinate
hotel rooms for those who may evacuate to San Antonio due to flooding along the
path of the storm. As we do every year, we’ve pre-positioned thousands of
cots, blankets, and other shelter supplies across the Gulf Coast. Unlike
every other year, this year we’ve also deployed thousands of surgical masks,
gloves, face shields, gowns, and other personal protective equipment (PPE)
aimed at mitigating our workforce’s and clients’ risk of COVID 19 infection.
The PPE is one part of our “layered defense” against COVID, which also
includes placing fewer clients in more shelters (to maintain social distance)
for shorter stays. Our overall sheltering strategy for this season is
outlined below:
On
Sunday, we’re expecting Hurricane Douglas—Douglas is the first Eastern Pacific
major hurricane of 2020—to affect Hawaii. This evening, Douglas is a Major
Hurricane (Category 3) about 980 miles East Southeast of Honolulu,
Hawaii. Douglas is moving at 30 MPH towards the Hawaiian Islands and the
National Weather Service has issued a Hurricane Watch for the Big Island of
Hawaii and for Maui County, including Maui, Lanai, Molokai and Kahoolawe.
While we expect Douglas to weaken a bit over the next two days, he is expected
to be near hurricane strength when he nears the islands. Moreover, unlike
some past tropical storms and hurricanes, Douglas could affect the entire
island chain, not simply the Big Island. We anticipate Douglas will bring
heavy rain beginning Saturday night or early Sunday causing flash flooding and
mudslides. Additionally, strong and potentially damaging winds are
possible in Hawaii Sunday with tropical-storm-force winds possibly arriving as
soon as late Saturday evening on the Big Island. DR 490-21—a level 3
operation—is preparing for about 2,400 people in the path of this hurricane to
seek shelter from the American Red Cross. In both Texas and Hawaii, we’re
planning for sheltering to be a combination of congregate shelters (schools,
churches, community centers) and non-congregate shelters (hotels, motels,
college dormitories) depending on location, availability, and volume of
evacuees.
Elsewhere,
tiny Tropical Storm Gonzalo is headed for the Windward Islands Saturday,
but we expect Gonzalo to weaken. Once in the Eastern Caribbean Sea on Sunday,
Gonzalo will encounter a hostile environment, which will likely reduce any
threat it might later pose to U.S. interests. That said, small storms
like Gonzalo can intensify quickly, so we’ll need to keep an eye on it because
some models have it re-emerging late next week in the Gulf of Mexico.
And, then, there’s Invest 92L—that orange “X” below right behind Gonzalo:
On
the satellite imagery in RC View, here’s what this looks like:
92L
is what’s called a “tropical wave” right now and it’s a few hundred miles south
of Cabo Verde Islands. We expect this wave to move westward during the
next several days, and it could become a tropical depression early next week
when it reaches the western tropical Atlantic. The National Hurricane
Center gives this wave a 50% chance of formation over the next 5 days.
Early models look like this map below—so, we have a potential cyclone threat
to Puerto Rico and USVI over the next week, and a similar threat in the Gulf
Coast or along the Eastern Seaboard in 10 days to 2 weeks. We’ll be
watching this one…
The
2020 Hurricane Season was forecast to be well above average, and, so far,
it’s living up to the forecast. Hanna and Gonzalo broke records for
being the earliest named Atlantic storms of their respective place in the
alphabet. Hanna
was the eighth named storm in the 2020 Atlantic hurricane. To put that in
perspective, we’re already as far down the name list as we would be in
late-September in an average hurricane season, which makes this the most
extreme pace of storms in recent history. Further, in the
Atlantic, we’re expecting 20 named storms, 6-10 hurricanes, and 3-6 hurricanes
Category 3 or higher. To prepare for this season (and the
concurrent Western Wildfire season, which is also predicted to be above
normal), we’ve initated a focused Seasonal Readiness Campaign with Volunteer
Services that has generated over 1,000 new disaster volunteers and
the qualification and/or promotion of 1,700 affiliated volunteers.
That’s an incredible achievement,
especially in the face of COVID-19.
As
you can see from the chart below, COVID 19
has not changed the mission we do…
…but, COVID-19 does change the way we do the mission.
CY-20
is already outpacing CY-19 for disaster activity—separate and apart from
COVID-19.
Going into this weekend, we begin with about 256 clients in a dozen hotels
around the country—over 12o clients for DR 486-21, a particularly devastating
flash flooding incident in Missiouri, and nearly 100 clients for DR 488-21 due
to a 65 unit apartment building fire earlier this week. Hotels and other
non-congregate settings help to mitigate the risk of infection and community
spread, so, when sufficient hotel rooms or other non-congregate options are
available, we provide hotel stays in lieu of congregate shelters—over 40,000 hotel
overnight stays since mid-April. We work with our partners—government, non-profits,
and corporate donors—to provide the same services to our non-congregate clients
as we do for our congregate clients: feeding, health services, mental health
services, spirtual care, casework, and financial assistance. Over the
past several months, Throughout the COVID 19 pandemic, we’ve delivered
services virtually to the greatest extent practical, but, there’s a certain
amount of mission that can only be delivered through presence. That’s
why, over the past few months, we’ve deployed over 1,000 volunteers to
DROs, and assigned over 6,000 volunteers to support the mission virtually.
In addition to our increasing diaster responses, we’ve delivered over 200
separate missions across 39 Regions in direct response to COVID-19 including
mass care support for those in quarantine, feeding for school children, the
elderly, and other vulnerable populations facing food insecurity due to COVID,
and missions to support mask distribution, crisis phone banks, and other
services.
When
we assess the humanitarian need caused by COVID 19, we find that the recent
surge of infections in the United States is so extreme that, once adjusted for
population, ten states—including hurricane-prone Florida, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas—are recording more new
cases than any country in the world.
To
actually SEE the face of Disaster 2020: Response in the Time of
Climate Change and COVID, I urge you to visit our on-line
story map—no special access needed: just click.
Please
let us know if you need anything from the Red Cross or see an opportunity for
us to partner as we respond to these events. Thanks to the entire team—please
remember to C-D-C: Cover
your face with a mask, social Distance, and Clean your hands often. Whether you’re on or
off Red Cross duty, please protect yourself
to protect the mission.
We’ll
keep you posted.
________
American Red
Cross | National Headquarters | 430 17th . St. NW (G217) | Washington, DC 20006
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