Hurricane Lidia LIVE: Where and when will the powerful Category 4 cyclone make landfall?

Hurricane Lidia strengthened this Tuesday to category 4 on the Pacific coast of Mexico, making it an “extremely dangerous” cyclone, reported the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC). The cyclone is located 175 km from the resort of Puerto Vallarta (western state of Jalisco), where residents took extreme protection and shelter measures as they waited for it to make landfall on Tuesday afternoon. The hurricane unleashed maximum sustained winds of 220 km/h and is moving at 26 km/h. The speed of its winds keeps it in category 4, out of 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

FOLLOW THE PATH OF HURRICANE LIDIA LIVE:

In Port of Vallarta Hundreds of people were heading to take shelter in a abundant rain, while some businesses accelerated the removal of goods and boarded up windows.

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“Better safe than rushing later,” Felipe Pinto, head of maintenance at a hotel, told AFP as his team placed sandbags to protect the site.

“It’s coming straight. They say it will hit a little more directly, to avoid it,” said Luis Ramos, 29, while protecting the bar where he works.

Classes were suspended in the areawhile inspectors Civil Protection They asked traders to close no later than 2pm local time (20:00 GMT).

“Everything that doesn’t have emergency services will close. Also to the population in the risk area We invite you to evacuate and take shelter“, explained the director of Civil Protection and Firefighters of the Port of VallartaGerardo Alonzo Castillon.

The trajectory of Hurricane Lidia. (NHC).

dangerous winds

He NHC He said that for this Tuesday afternoon they are expected “dangerous winds” and “rain with the potential to create flooding”.

“The center of Lydia should reach the coast within the alert area in the central west Mexico this afternoon or overnight,” he added.

The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obradorsaid this Tuesday in his daily press conference that civil protection bodies are “on alert” and that “around six thousand members of the Armed Forces” were deployed to help residents.

It was established at an official level that the most affected areas would range from the state of Colima to Nayarit, indicated the National Meteorological Service (SMN).

Lydia will cause torrential rain (150 to 250 mm) in Colimawest of Warrior (south), JaliscoMichoacán (west) and Nayarit (northwest), stated the SMN.

Storm Max left two dead

Meanwhile, in Guerrero, Tropical Storm Max made landfall on Monday afternoon and shortly after dissipated, leaving two dead and dozens of homes flooded, regional authorities said.

One of these people died when he was swept away by a current while trying to move his cattle to safety, while the other died after crashing his vehicle on one of the roads affected by the rains.

The municipality of Técpan de Galeana, one of the poorest in the country, was the most affected by Max.

Due to its extensive Pacific and Atlantic coastlines, Mexico is one of the most vulnerable countries to suffer hurricane attack with at least a dozen weather phenomena per year, all with the potential to become cyclones.

In October 2015, the central portion of the Pacific coast was hit by Patricia, the most powerful hurricane on meteorological records, with sustained winds of 325 km/h and gusts of up to 400 km/h. However, it only left material damage as it hit an uninhabited area dominated by a large mountain range.

In October 2010, the Mexican Caribbean was hit by Wilma, the costliest hurricane in the country’s history, which made landfall through Cozumel and then slowly hit Cancún and the Riviera Maya for more than 48 hours.

Source: Elcomercio