Hurricane Agatha, the first hurricane of its kind on the Pacific coast of Mexico, made landfall at around 4pm (9pm GMT) on Monday off the coast of a tourist area off the coast of the state of Oaxaca (west). With moderate caution, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
Agatha, moving at 135 km / h with winds of up to 165 km / h, was reported by the NHC as the “strongest hurricane” recorded on Mexico’s Pacific coast from May 1949.
The NHC has Agatha Type 2 rating up to 5 on the Sapphire-Simpson scale. “Agatha weakens later in the night and is expected to dissolve in southeastern Mexico by the last hour on Tuesday,” the same source added.
Size: Hurricane, 5 levels of risk
Shelters are set up
“This is a threat to the state of Oaxaca,” the local civil defense announced a yellow alert (average). According to Mexico’s Meteorological Service (SMN), six-meter high waves have been reported in the tourist state of Oaxaca and the neighboring states of Guerrero and Chiapas.
About 5,240 tourists have been identified in the danger zone between the resorts of Puerto Escondido and Huadulco, according to local officials. The Oaxaca government says it can accommodate 26,800 people in 203 makeshift camps. “Hotels are open. People are coming, ”said Roberto Castillo of Huatulco Civil Protection.
Authorities have closed ports for shipping in these areas. Flights to Huatulco have been canceled since Sunday evening.
Country affected by tropical cyclones
The hurricane is expected to bring heavy rains to the provinces of Chiapas and Oaxaca, as well as the neighboring states of Guerrero and Tabasco (southeast), SMN said. The SMN warned that “rain could cause landslides, increase in river size and flooding.”
In 2020: The hurricane season broke the new Atlantic record
Mexico is hit by tropical cyclones on its Pacific and Atlantic coasts each year, usually between May and November.
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