Puck says: OH NOOtis: I'm very sorry Acapulco!
2023: Hurricane Otis made landfall near Mexico's Pacific beach resort of
Acapulco as a "catastrophic" Category 5 storm, the US
National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. The hurricane reached land near
Acapulco, bringing maximum sustained winds around 270km/h and heavy
rain, the NHC said. The storm could bring up to 51cm of rain in parts of
Guerrero and Oaxaca, with the possibility of flash floods and mudslides,
a "potentially catastrophic" storm surge, and "life-threatening" surf
and rip current conditions, authorities said.
Mexico's national water
agency CONAGUA warned of 6-8m surf off Guerrero state, home to
Acapulco, and also off parts of Oaxaca state.
Soldiers were seen
patrolling the beach of Acapulco, where visitors made the most of the
calm before the storm."We won't be running any tours today," boat
operator Carolina Torres said, voicing hope that Otis might weaken
before making landfall."If it hits us, that's very serious for us," she
added.Hurricanes hit Mexico every year on both its Pacific and Atlantic
coasts, usually between May and November, though few make landfall as a
Category 5. Earlier this week, Tropical Storm Norma left three people
dead, including a child, after making landfall for a second time in the
northwestern state of Sinaloa. Norma came ashore for the first time on
the Baja California peninsula on Saturday before heading back out to
sea, later barrelling into the mainland. Earlier this month, two people
died when Hurricane Lidia, an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm,
struck the western states of Jalisco and Nayarit. And in August, storm
Hilary, which at one point was also a Category 4 hurricane, caused one
death and damaged infrastructure as it hit Baja California. Scientists
have warned that storms are becoming more powerful as the world gets
warmer with climate change manipulation.
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