Photo from www.weather.com

Carrying a punch of 85-mph winds, Hurricane Douglas twirled about 90-miles northwest of Kahului, Hawaii and nearly 60-miles northeast of Honolulu, according to the latest reports from the National Hurricane Center.

The Hurricane Center also noted that the hurricane was moving west-northwest at about 16-mph. The track is expected to continue for the next two or so days.

The National Hurricane Center called Douglas a “dangerous hurricane” and said that it is expected to pass near Oahu and Kauai tonight, Monday, July 27, 2020.

The hurricane center expects Douglas to weaken. However, it should maintain hurricane force winds as it passes over the islands. Hawaii is expected to sustain a triple threat of danger including damaging winds, flooding rainfall, and extremely high surf.

The National Hurricane Center advisory cautioned that there would be heavy rainfall over parts of the main Hawaiian Islands on Sunday, July 26 ^th into Monday. More than 3 to 6 inches of total rain accumulation is expected. The most rainfall will occur in elevated terrain.

Hurricane warnings have been announced for Oahu and Kauai County. However, a hurricane warning was canceled for Maui County.

Douglas could have been a lot worse had its path took it 20 or 30 miles south of the Islands. This path would have put the hurricane directly over Hawaii. In addition, the path put the Islands in the southwest side of the storm, which is less destructive than the northeast and the right side of the hurricane’s eye.

Hawaiian Electric Company cautioned its customers to prepare for storm related power outages. The utility has moved crews and equipment where needed as it monitors the progress of the storm.

Repair crews will be forwarded after the storm passes or when it is safe to deploy them. The utility noted that it would constantly be making damage assessments to determine where crews will be sent. Equipment severing hospitals and other critical infrastructure will have first priority during restoration of power.

Meanwhile, Hanna weakened into a tropical depression on Sunday as it traveled from southern Texas to northeastern Mexico. Hanna made landfall at 5 p.m. Saturday, July 25 ^th as a Category 1 hurricane at Padre Island. According to the National Hurricane Center, it was “just shy” of being a Category 2. It packed a punch of 90-mph of sustained winds as it came ashore. By 1 a.m. CDT Sunday, it had weakened into a tropical storm. Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared it to be a disaster.

On Sunday morning Hanna threatened Texas with maximum sustained winds of 50-mph. However most of the damage was the result of heavy rains and flash flooding in the southeast region of Texas into northeast Mexico. The storm was moving at 9-mph toward the west-southwest and was about 55 miles west of McAllen, Texas.

According to AEP Texas, the electric utility that serves the southern portion of Texas, more than 43,700 people throughout south Texas including Corpus Christi, Harlingen and Brownsville, were without power Saturday evening.

As of 6 a.m. CDT on Monday, 65,400 people were without power in south Texas including Corpus Christi, Laredo, and Rio Grande Valley Districts. At the peak of the outage about 200,000 people were affected early Sunday morning.

AEP Texas struggled, but made substantial progress on Sunday as its crews restored electricity to customers left without power after the storm made landfall. According to the utility, more than 67 percent of customers affected have had their power restored.

Crews of about 2,350 worked to restore power. 1,300 had traveled from neighboring utilities in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

It is apparent that hurricane season is here and the regions of the United States vulnerable to these storms will most certainly be plunged into darkness due to power outages that result. It is not uncommon for thousands of residents of a region to be affected.

And with thousands of Americans working at home on their computers due to the coronavirus, being secure from power outages has become even more important.

APElectric offers a wide range of stand-alone generators from such manufacturers as  Cummins, Westinghouse, Kohler, Briggs & Stratton, Generac, Firman, and Guardian. They have a large inventory to choose from. Many models feature Wi-Fi so that you can monitor and control the generator from anywhere on Earth. Their website also includes a generator sizing calculator and offers information on how to select the proper generator for your situation.

Now more than ever it is essential that you be prepared. Visit the APElectric website and browse their supply of generators. Purchasing one can give you peace of mind during these crazy storm seasons.