Carlos regained hurricane force off Mexico's Pacific coast Monday after unleashing rain and winds that partly shut down power in Acapulco and wiped out a turtle sanctuary.
A day after it was downgraded to a tropical storm, Carlos was again a Category One hurricane as it crept up parallel to the southwestern coast, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
On the lowest of the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, the hurricane packed maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers (75 miles) per hour as it swirled some 140 kilometers (85 miles) southwest of the port of Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan state.
Carlos is expected to produce rains in the states of Guerrero, Michoacan, Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit, with accumulations of 15 to 25 centimeters (six to 10 inches) through Wednesday, the hurricane center said. Swells could cause life-threatening surf on the coast.
Schools were closed in the Guerrero resort of Acapulco on Monday. A day earlier, the storm caused power outages in half the city, but most was restored on Monday.
One person was lightly injured by a falling tree and water rose in flood-prone parts of the city, authorities said. The rain finally stopped in Acapulco on Monday.
The winds felled billboards, trees and poles, said Raul Miliani, a state civil protection official.
The storm reportedly caused damage to 16 restaurants along the beach.
The "small cyclone" will move just offshore of the coast over the next day or two, though "only a small deviation to the north of the forecast track could bring the core of the hurricane tothe coastline," the US hurricane center said.
Carlos is the third hurricane of the Pacific storm season, following Andres, which never made landfall, and Blanca, which weakened to a tropical storm when it reached the Baja California peninsula earlier this month.
Carlos regained hurricane force off Mexico’s Pacific coast Monday after unleashing rain and winds that partly shut down power in Acapulco and wiped out a turtle sanctuary.
A day after it was downgraded to a tropical storm, Carlos was again a Category One hurricane as it crept up parallel to the southwestern coast, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
On the lowest of the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, the hurricane packed maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers (75 miles) per hour as it swirled some 140 kilometers (85 miles) southwest of the port of Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacan state.
Carlos is expected to produce rains in the states of Guerrero, Michoacan, Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit, with accumulations of 15 to 25 centimeters (six to 10 inches) through Wednesday, the hurricane center said. Swells could cause life-threatening surf on the coast.
Schools were closed in the Guerrero resort of Acapulco on Monday. A day earlier, the storm caused power outages in half the city, but most was restored on Monday.
One person was lightly injured by a falling tree and water rose in flood-prone parts of the city, authorities said. The rain finally stopped in Acapulco on Monday.
The winds felled billboards, trees and poles, said Raul Miliani, a state civil protection official.
The storm reportedly caused damage to 16 restaurants along the beach.
The “small cyclone” will move just offshore of the coast over the next day or two, though “only a small deviation to the north of the forecast track could bring the core of the hurricane tothe coastline,” the US hurricane center said.
Carlos is the third hurricane of the Pacific storm season, following Andres, which never made landfall, and Blanca, which weakened to a tropical storm when it reached the Baja California peninsula earlier this month.
