According to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), Category 5 Hurricane Otis has hit the Pacific beach resort of Acapulco, Mexico, with potentially devastating effects.
According to the report of the foreign news agency ‘AFP’, the NHC report stated that the maximum wind speed of 265 kilometers per hour was blowing at the time of storm Otis.
As the hurricane neared landfall, it quickly became a Category 5 hurricane on the Safar Simpson scale, the most powerful.
The NHC warned that there is a possibility of catastrophic damage, where the center of the storm will move onshore.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has urged people on social media to move to emergency shelters and stay away from rivers, streams and ditches.
Earlier, soldiers were seen patrolling the beach in Acapulco, where tourists had been before the storm.
“We won’t be doing any tours today,” said boater Carolina Torres, hoping the storm might weaken before making landfall.
“If it hits us, the consequences for us will be dire,” he added.
Up to 51 cm of rain might be recorded in Guerrero and surrounding areas and neighboring Oaxaca, the NHC said.
The Center warned that the rains might result in heavy downpours and urban flooding, besides the possibility of landslides.
The NHC added that ‘potentially destructive storm surge is expected to cause life-threatening coastal flooding’.
Hurricanes hit both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of Mexico between May and November each year, but few of them reach Category 5.
In October 1997, Category 4 Hurricane Pauline hit the Pacific coast of Mexico, killing more than 200 people in Mexico, including in Acapulco.
It was the deadliest hurricane to hit Mexico so far.
In October 2015, Patricia became the most powerful hurricane ever recorded, when it wreaked havoc on Mexico’s Pacific coast with winds of 200 km/h.
That same week, Tropical Storm Norma killed three people, including a child, when it made landfall in the northwestern Sinaloa region.
Norma made its first appearance on the island of Baja California on Saturday before heading out to sea.
Earlier this month, Category 4 Hurricane Lidia caused 2 deaths in the western states of Narita and Jalisco.
In August, Hurricane Hillary, which at one point was a Category 4, made landfall in Baja California, killing one person.
Scientists have expressed concern that these storms are becoming more powerful due to climate change and rising temperatures.
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2024-07-04 00:23:19
