The hurricane Norma strengthened with winds of more than 200 km/h and was raised to category 4 as it approached the coast of Baja California, in northwestern Mexico, the American National Hurricane Center announced Thursday ( NHC).
“ Norma is a Category 4 hurricane on (the 5 on) the Saffir-Simpson scale,” indicates the NHC in its latest bulletin.
The hurricane was located around 3 p.m. GMT (11 a.m. in Quebec) 390 km west of the coast of Mexico, from the same source.
Norma is moving north at 11 km/h and is expected to touch the southern tip of the Mexican peninsula on Saturday, but with less strong winds, according to the NHC forecast.
The approach of the powerful hurricane led the government to activate a national emergency plan, under the direction of the army. More than 6,600 soldiers were put on alert, according to the Secretariat of National Defense.
Last week, western Mexico was hit by another powerful hurricane, Lidiawhich left two dead in the states of Jalisco and Nayarit.
With its long coastlines on both the Pacific and Atlantic sides, Mexico is regularly exposed to hurricanes that form offshore.
A dozen depressions per year are likely to turn into more or less devastating hurricanes depending on their point of entry.
The most powerful ever recorded, Patriciain October 2015, with winds of 325 km/h, however, only caused material damage because it entered the territory through an uninhabited mountainous area.