MEXICAN AUTHORITIES EVACUATED about 5,000 people as Hurricane Ingrid gained strength and threatened to lash Mexico with heavy rains and floods when it is set to make landfall Monday.
The major storm comes just days after heavy rains lashed the southeastern state of Veracruz, killing 14 people this week alone, including 13 who died when a landslide crushed their homes in a mountainous region of the Gulf Coast state.
20 bridges damaged
Veracruz emergency services chief Ricardo Maza Limon said that about 5,000 people living on the banks of the Tecolutla River had been evacuated, and at least 20 bridges were damaged during rains in the north of the state that cut off 71 communities.
This is the second hurricane of the 2013 season and is packing top winds of 85 miles per hour as it headed northwest at seven miles per hour, the US National Hurricane Center said.
The NHC are warning that the storm is bringing “very heavy rains and dangerous floods.”
The Mexican government issued a hurricane watch from north of La Pesca to Bahia Algodone.
A hurricane warning was also in effect from Cab Rojo to La Pesca, meaning that hurricane conditions where expected in that area within 36 hours.
Damage
“Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion,” the NHC said.
Ingrid was expected to strengthen further before making landfall as it makes a turn toward the northwest today followed by a shift toward the West by early Monday.
Forecasters say rain levels could reach 25-38 centimeters, though some mountainous areas could experience more rainfall.
Second storm
In the Pacific, the NHC said that Tropical Storm Manuel, also carrying the potential for life-threatening flash floods, should be a hurricane when it makes landfall today near the southwestern Mexican coast.
The NHC said Manuel carried the “potential for life-threatening flash flooding.”
Manuel is moving north-northwestward at eight miles per hour, packing maximum winds of 70 miles per hour.
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