Tropical Storm Andres was expected to grow into the Pacific season’s first hurricane yesterday and deal a glancing blow to southwestern Mexico before churning its way up the coast past picturesque towns popular with foreign retirees.
Mexico issued a hurricane warning for the Pacific coast from just south of Manzanillo north to near Puerto Vallarta. To the south, officials in Acapulco prepared 120 shelters and warned residents to stay indoors, especially some 15,000 people in zones most at risk for flooding. Heavy rains late on Sunday knocked down a few trees in the resort city.
Forecasters said Andres was likely to brush the coast at hurricane strength around the port city of Manzanillo yesterday.
Forecast models showed its center later pushing up the coast near towns such as Barra de Navidad, which are home to some US and Canadian expatriates.
At Barra de Navidad, northwest of Manzanillo, Agapito Garcia Martinez, security manager at the Grand Bay Hotel-Isla Navidad Resort, said on Monday that hotel staff were preparing, including by taking in beach furniture and protecting hotel windows, but had not yet been advised by authorities to so.
Weather was still sunny despite stronger-than-usual winds and guests were still checking in normally to the hotel, he said. But that could change yesterday, when Andres drew closer.
Late on Sunday, Andres became the first named storm of the eastern Pacific hurricane season, which began on May 15 and ends on Nov. 30 and is typically busiest between July and September.
The US National Hurricane Center said Andres was centered about 200km south-southeast of Manzanillo at 2am yesterday and it had sustained winds near 110kph, with higher gusts.
It was moving toward the northwest near 13kph. The storm’s winds were expected to build as high as 12kph, just over the minimum for a hurricane, by late yesterday or today.
Most forecast models predicted the storm would brush the central Mexican coast yesterday before weakening and bending toward the west a little short of the Los Cabos resorts at the tip of the Baja California peninsula tomorrow night or on Friday.
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
RSS