MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Erick strengthened into a category 1 hurricane off Mexico’s Pacific Coast and may intensify into a major hurricane prior to its landfall, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Wednesday.
Erick is expected to be the first hurricane to make landfall in Mexico this season, and would bring “life-threatening flash floods to portions of southern Mexico later tonight and Thursday”, the NHC said in a report.
“Rapid strengthening is expected today, and Erick may reach major hurricane strength when it approaches the coast of southern Mexico Thursday,” the center warned.
With maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h), Erick is moving northwest at near 7 mph (11 km/h) and is expected to get closer to the country’s southern coast during the night.
Mexico’s national water commission Conagua said in a statement that the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero are under alert ahead of the hurricane’s arrival as rainfall could lead to landslides and flooding.
(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; editing by Stefanie Eschenbacher)