The first hurricane of the season, Agatha, was hurtling toward a strip of tourist beaches and fishing towns on Mexico’s southern Pacific coast on Monday, where warnings of dangerous storm surges and flooding from downpours hit.
Agatha quickly picked up power after training on Sunday. It is expected to have upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane by the time of landfall Monday afternoon or evening, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
She was moving toward the Puerto Escondido and Puerto Angel area of Oaxaca state in southern Mexico ― an area home to the beach towns of Huatulco, Mazunte and Zipolite.
The American center warned that Agatha could generate “extremely dangerous storm surges and potentially deadly winds”.
By early Monday, Agatha’s winds were blowing at 175 kilometers per hour, just short of a Category 3 hurricane, the hurricane center said. The eye of the storm was 110 kilometers southwest of Puerto Angel and was sliding northeast at 9 kilometers per hour.
The storm should have essentially the same strength when it makes landfall. A hurricane warning is in effect from the Port of Salina Cruz to Lagunas de Chacahua.
Photos released Sunday by Oaxaca public security officials show fishermen pulling their boats onto the beach for safety as bad weather begins to set in.
Municipal authorities in Huatulco have ordered the “absolute closure” of all beaches in the city and its seven bays, many of which are accessible only by boat. They also closed local schools and started to open emergency shelters.
In Zipolite, further west, employees of the Casa Kalmar hotel were bringing in furniture and installing wooden shutters to protect the windows.
The United States National Hurricane Center warns that Agatha will dump 25 to 40 centimeters of rain in parts of Oaxaca, and up to 50 centimeters in some places, generating the threat of flash floods and mud.