Hurricane Otis weakened slightly after making landfall on Wednesday morning on Mexico’s southern Pacific coast but remained a dangerous storm as it made its way inland.
The latest report from the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said Otis was about 40 kilometers northwest of the popular resort city of Acapulco with maximum sustained winds of 215 kilometers an hour, making it a Category 4 storm on the center’s five-level scale that measures a storm’s maximum sustained wind speed and destructive potential.
The hurricane made landfall near Acapulco as a Category 5 storm with maximum sustained winds of 270 kilometers an hour. Forecasters say the center of Otis will move farther inland over southern Mexico through Wednesday night.
The NHC has discontinued a hurricane watch and tropical storm warning east of the coastal town of Punta Maldonado, located about 245 kilometers southeast of Acapulco in Guerrero state, but a hurricane warning remains in effect west of Punta Maldonado.
Forecasters predict Hurricane Otis will dump as much as 20 to 40 centimeters of rain across Guerrero and the western coastal sections of Oaxaca, with maximum amounts of 50 centimeters, triggering flash flooding and mudslides in high areas.
Otis will also trigger a potentially catastrophic storm surge that will produce life-threatening coastal flooding, along with large and destructive waves
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador urged residents in Guerrero state to “move to shelters, stay in safe places: away from rivers, streams, ravines and be alert.”
The NHC says Otis will weaken as it moves inland over higher terrain during the day, then dissipate over southern Mexico Wednesday night.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
