Friday, June 15, 2012

Hurricane Carlotta makes landfall in Mexico with 90 mph winds - @AP

This NOAA satellite image taken Friday, June 15, 2012 at 1:45 PM EDT shows dense cloud cover over the northwestern basin as circulation from a remnant tropical wave sirs up scattered showers and thunderstorms in the region. Similar activity forms in the southwestern basin as an area of low pressure becomes embedded in the monsoon trough that extends from Colombia to portions of western Panama and Costa Rica. Meanwhile, a few weak isolated showers are embedded in moderate to fresh easterly trade winds. (AP PHOTO/WEATHER UNDERGROUND)

MIAMI (AP) - Hurricane Carlotta has come ashore in Mexico with winds of 90 mph (150 kph).

Forecasters with the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami say that the storm was making landfall near Puerto Escondido Mexico Friday night. The center of the storm was about 10 miles (15 km) northwest of the city.

The storm is moving to the north west at about 10 mph (17 kph).

The center of the storm is expected to move inland over the next several days.

Its wind speed has fallen slightly, leading forecasters to downgrade it to a Category 1 storm.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Carlotta grew into a powerful Category 2 hurricane on Friday as it neared Mexico's southern Pacific coast, where it is expected to brush the resort town of Puerto Escondido and then lash Acapulco.

Authorities in Oaxaca state opened emergency shelters, evacuated dozens of families from low-lying areas and tourists began leaving Puerto Escondido, a laid-back port popular with surfers. Rains were already hammering Puerto Escondido and authorities said winds had toppled hundreds of trees in the region.

"The thinner trees are beginning to fold from the wind," said Oscar Trujillo, owner of the La Casita restaurant in Puerto Escondido.

Oaxaca's civil protection service said mudslides road leading to the resorts of Huatulco and Pochutla were partially blocked by mudslides. Hotel owners in the region's resorts were gathering up furniture and other potential flying objects in preparation for the hurricane.

Rain had begun falling in the Pacific resort of Acapulco. A hurricane warning was in effect for a stretch of coastline from Salina Cruz, Oaxaca to Acapulco in neighboring Guerrero state.

Carlotta's center was about 10 miles (20 kilometers) southwest of Puerto Angel and 225 miles (365 kilometers) southeast of Acapulco Friday night, with winds of 105 mph (165 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was moving northwest at 12 mph (19 kph), the center said.

Ines Vos, a German who has lived on Mexico's coast for 22 years and now runs the Beach Hotel Ines in Puerto Escondido, said she had readied the hotel's generator and stocked up on gasoline and bottled water in preparation for the storm.

"In the morning, a lot of people left, they didn't want to stay because nobody knows how the roads will be" after Carlotta lashes the town, said Vos, who lived through Hurricane Pauline in 1997. Pauline made landfall at Puerto Escondido with winds of 109 mph, killing at least 230 people along the Pacific coast.

The part of Oaxaca state and neighboring Guerrero state that the storm will graze is full of mountainous terrain that can experience flash floods under heavy rainfalls. Carlotta was expected to follow a path parallel to the coastline over Saturday and Sunday, dumping heavy rains.

Cynthia Tovar, a spokeswoman for the Oaxaca state civil defense office, said authorities had begun to open nine emergency shelters and cancelled classes in coastal towns. Authorities were telling people in high-risk areas to head to the shelters, which can hold an estimated 4,500 people.

However, Vos, who spent about a week without electricity after Pauline in 1997, said people appeared to be slow to prepare for Carlotta.

"They are warning people, but I don't see anybody moving," Vos said.


(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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