By Aida Pelaez-Fernandez
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Erick strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane off Mexico’s Pacific Coast and may intensify into a major hurricane before its landfall, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Wednesday.
Erick is expected to be the first hurricane to make landfall in Mexico this season, and would bring “life-threatening flash floods to portions of southern Mexico later tonight and Thursday,” the NHC said in a report.
“Rapid strengthening is expected today, and Erick may reach major hurricane strength when it approaches the coast of southern Mexico,” the center warned.
With maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph), Erick is moving northwest at nearly 7 mph (11 kph).
“Erick could develop into a Category 2 hurricane in the first minutes of Thursday, and it could make landfall between Oaxaca and Guerrero during the day,” the head of Mexico’s civil protection agency, Laura Velazquez, told a presidential press conference.
Both states have begun emergency planning, taken preventive actions with local authorities, and activated over 500 temporary shelters, she added.
Mexican authorities will also provide care and evacuation for tourists in the area, which has popular beaches and resort towns such as Acapulco.
During her morning press conference, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum urged residents to stay indoors and move to shelters if they are in flood-prone areas.
Mexico’s national water commission, Conagua, said in a statement that rainfall in Oaxaca and Guerrero could lead to landslides and flooding.
(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; editing by Stefanie Eschenbacher and Rod Nickel)
