Hurricane Carlos ploughs towards Mexico coast
The third storm of the Pacific hurricane season sets its sights on southwest Mexico.
Hurricane Carlos has been gathering strength off Mexico’s Pacific coast since the middle of last week. It is currently a category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, but it is expected to strengthen further as it heads towards land, bringing life-threatening floods and mud slides, especially over the higher terrain.
The storm is located about 135km to the southwest of Acapulco and is slowly staggering northwest at around 4km/h. At present, it has sustained winds of 150km/h and gusts approaching 185km/h, but it is expected to strengthen to around 165km/h with gusts nearer 200km/h by Monday.
Warnings are in force along much of the coastline of western Mexico. The states currently most at risk are Oaxaca, Guerrero, Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco.
Carlos is likely to produce around 250mm of rain along these coasts on Tuesday and it is likely that one or two spots could see as much as 375mm. Life-threatening flash floods, mudslides; large surf and rip currents are all possible.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, a clutch of thunderstorms have gathered over the Yucatan Peninsula. The National Hurricane Center suggests that there is a good chance that these may well develop into a tropical storm during the next few days.
Initially it may bring flooding to parts of southeast Mexico. It is then expected to cross the Gulf of Mexico where it is likely to threaten heavy rains over the saturated plains of the southern US.