the hurricane Agatha made history as the strongest hurricane to ever make landfall in May during the eastern Pacific hurricane season.
Agatha made landfall along a sparsely populated strip of beach towns and fishing villages in southern Mexico.
The storm hit Oaxaca state on Monday afternoon as a Category 2 hurricane, with winds of 165 km/h. It then quickly lost power while flying over the mountains in the interior of the country.
Agatha had been downgraded to tropical depression status Tuesday morning, with sustained winds of 55 km / h. The U.S. National Hurricane Center anticipates it will dissipate in the next few hours, but warns its heavy rains still pose a flood risk for southern Mexican states.
Torrential rains and strong winds battered palm trees and drove tourists and residents to emergency shelters. Footage released by Oaxaca Public Security shows families holed up in a shelter in Pochutla and a landslide blocking a highway.
Heavy rains and giant waves hit the resort town of Zipolite. Nearby, in Puerto Escondido, residents have installed wooden shutters to protect windows from the wind.
Agatha picked up speed quickly after forming on Sunday. It was the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in the eastern Pacific in May, said meteorologist Jeff Masters, founder of Weather Underground.
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