(CNN) — Agatha has been downgraded to a tropical storm late Monday after making landfall in southern Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane.
The storm had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 km/h) with some higher gusts, said the National Hurricane Center.
Agatha made landfall Monday afternoon just west of Puerto Angel with winds of 105 mph (170 km/h), according to the hurricane center.
All hurricane warnings were suspended, but tropical storm warnings remained in place from Puerto Escondido to Salina Cruz.
Agatha, the first hurricane of the eastern Pacific season, had rapidly intensified in the eastern Pacific Ocean and was approaching major hurricane status as it approached the southern coast of Mexico on Sunday night.
The storm is expected to continue to weaken and dissipate by Tuesday afternoon, but “could produce life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides in southern Mexico through Tuesday,” the hurricane center said.
The heaviest rains will fall in the state of Oaxaca, where up to 16 inches (40 cm) are forecast, with isolated patches of 20 inches (50 cm) possible. In fact, this Monday the Federal Electricity Commission of Mexico reported through a statement that the passage of storm Agatha left 46,563 people without electricity in the Oaxaca area.
The remnants of Agatha are expected to head out into the Caribbean Sea and now have a 50% chance of developing again in the next 5 days.
Agatha’s remnants may contribute to the gradual development of a tropical system in the “extreme southwestern Gulf of Mexico by the middle of the week or in the northwestern Caribbean by the end of this week,” according to the National Center’s Atlantic Tropical Weather Outlook. of Hurricanes. “Regardless of development, locally heavy rains will be possible across southern Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala and Belize through the week,” the center said.
Hurricane Agatha made landfall in southern Mexico
The hurricane Agatha made landfall in southern Mexico on Monday, according to a report from the US National Hurricane Center.
Since recordkeeping began in 1949, this is the strongest hurricane to make landfall in May along Mexico’s Pacific coast, says the CNH.
4pm CDT 30 May – #Hurricane #Agatha has made landfall just west of Puerto Angel, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph.
Since record keeping began in 1949, this is the strongest hurricane to make landfall in May along the Pacific coast of Mexico. pic.twitter.com/dUraseRoDe
— NHC Eastern Pacific (@NHC_Pacific) May 30, 2022
The hurricane center forecast Agatha to rapidly weaken after landfall and dissipate “over southeastern Mexico by Tuesday night.”
The State Civil Protection Coordination of Oaxaca warned that before the impact “its wide circulation and cloud bands generated extraordinary rains in a large part of the state, but particularly in the Coast, Isthmus, Mixteca, Sierra Sur, Cuenca del Papaloapan and Sierra Norte and of variable intensity in the Cañada and Central Valleys”. There were also “strong gusts of wind on the shoreline, high surf and storm surge.”
The entity also highlighted that “waves of 6 to 8 meters high from Pinotepa Nacional to San Mateo del Mar” were expected, as well as an increase in the levels of rivers and streams, landslides and flash floods.
“Storm surge can produce coastal flooding near and to the east of where (the hurricane’s) center passes the coast in areas of onshore winds,” the National Hurricane Center said. “The storm surge can be accompanied by large and destructive waves.”
Agatha it rapidly intensified and approached major hurricane status as it moved along the southern coast of Mexico, but was eventually downgraded to a tropical storm. This was the first hurricane of the eastern Pacific season.
With reporting from CNN’s Taylor Ward, Monica Garrett and Robert Shackelford.