Agathe intensified on Sunday hours after becoming a category 1 hurricane off the Pacific coast of Mexico and was expected to make landfall Monday night, unloading heavy rains on the eastern Mexican states, reported the National Hurricane Center (NHC) of USA.
At 10:00 local time (15:00 GMT), Agatha, the first hurricane of the season, was located about 320 kilometers west-southwest of Puerto Ángel, a tourist town in the state of Oaxaca, and was blowing maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour (km/h), while moving north-northwest over the Pacific Ocean at about 4 km/h, according to NHC data.
Agatha will head towards the Mexican coast in the next few hours, according to the NHC forecast, and would make landfall on Monday night as a category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with winds greater than 154 km / h.
“Agatha is rapidly strengthening … additional intensification is expected before the hurricane reaches the coast of southern Mexico on Monday,” the NHC said in a report.
“Agatha will produce heavy rains over parts of southern Mexico through Tuesday night. Life-threatening flash flooding and landslides may occur,” the Miami-based institution added.
The area that would be affected by the effects of Agatha includes the busy beaches of hidden port, Mazunte Y Huatulco.
