A compact Hurricane Rick roared ashore along Mexico’s southern Pacific coast early Monday with 165 kph winds and heavy rain amid warnings of potential flash floods in the coastal mountains.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Rick made landfall as a Category 2 storm about 25 kilometres east of the port of Lazaro Cardenas around 5 a.m. Later Monday, Rick weakened to a tropical depression and was 225 kilometres north of Lazaro Cardenas, moving north at 22 kph.
Forecasters said heavy rains meant the threat of flooding continued. The storm’s maximum sustained winds had decreased to 55 kph. The centre warned that Rick could produce flash floods and mudslides in the mountainous terrain on the coast.
“During its passage over land, it will cause intense to torrential rains and possible mudslides and flooding, as well as rising levels in streams and rivers, in the states of Guerrero, Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco,” Mexico’s National Water Commission said in a statement.
Authorities in Lazaro Cardenas had opened six emergency shelters for people who might want to leave low-lying areas. Zihuatanejo opened a shelter at the municipal auditorium.
The state of Guerrero, where Zihuatanejo and Acapulco are located, said rains and wind knocked over some trees and damaged a road before the storm made landfall.
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