Hurricane Agatha made landfall at 4 p.m. CT Monday west of Puerto Angel, Mexico, with sustained maximum winds of 105 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
This is the first Category 2 storm to make landfall on the Pacific coast of Mexico.
The National Hurricane Center warned of “extremely dangerous” coastal flooding due to storm surge and “life-threatening” hurricane force winds in the state of Oaxaca. Heavy rains are expected to continue in southern Mexico until Tuesday.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm was expected to drop between 10 and 16 inches of rain in parts of Oaxaca, with isolated highs of 20 inches, posing a danger of sudden and landslides. of mud.
16:00 CDT May 30: Hurricane #Agatha made landfall just west of Puerto Angel, Mexico, with sustained maximum winds of 105 mph.
Since record keeping began in 1949, this is the strongest hurricane to make landfall in May along the Pacific coast of Mexico. pic.twitter.com/dUraseRoDe
– NHC Eastern Pacific (@NHC_Pacific) May 30, 2022
Near Puerto Angel, gusts of wind, heavy rain and big waves started on Sunday night in the beach town of Zipolite, long known for its beach with optional clothes and bohemian atmosphere. The ominous gray skies and puffy sandy beaches cleared the popular destinations of Puerto Escondido, Puerto Angel and Huatulco.
“There is a lot of rain and sudden gusts of strong wind,” said Silvia Ranfagni, manager of Zipolite’s Casa Kalmar Hotel. “The ocean is very choppy and it rains a lot,” said Ranfagni, who has decided to go out with Agatha on the property. “You can hear the howling wind.”
National emergency officials said they had assembled a working group of more than 9,300 people for the area and that more than 200 shelters had been opened, as meteorologists warned of dangerous storm surges and flooding due to heavy rains. .
Jeff Masters, a meteorologist at Yale Climate Connections and founder of Weather Underground, said hurricanes in the region usually start from tropical waves coming from the coast of Africa.
“Because the African monsoon does not normally begin to produce tropical waves until early or mid-May, there are simply not enough initial disturbances to reach many East Pacific hurricanes in May,” Masters wrote in an email. “In addition, May’s water temperatures are cooler than the peak of the season, and the wind shear is usually higher.”
Masters wasn’t sure if the Agatha was propelled by a tropical wave (low-pressure areas moving through the tropics), but the storm has benefited from warm water and low wind shear.
In the late hours of Monday morning, Agatha accelerated slightly as she moved to the area near Puerto Escondido and Puerto Angel, in the southern state of Oaxaca. The region includes the quiet resorts of Huatulco, Mazunte and Zipolite.
In Huatulco, the municipal authorities canceled the schools and ordered the “absolute closure” of all the beaches and their seven bays, many of which can only be accessed by boat.
The government’s Mexican Turtle Center, a former slaughterhouse that has been turned into a conservation center in Mazunte, announced it was closed to visitors until further notice due to the hurricane.
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