Hurricane Rick’s fierce winds churned up dangerous surf off Mexico’s coast early yesterday, the strongest storm recorded in the eastern North Pacific Ocean in more than a decade.
The US National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, said late on Saturday that Rick was an “extremely dangerous” Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 285kph. The center said Rick was likely to lose some of that punch as it nears the Baja California peninsula in coming days.
The hurricane was projected to stay well off the Mexican coast for several days before bending east over cooler waters and approach the Baja California Peninsula as a Category 1 or Category 2 hurricane sometime on Wednesday, forecasters said.
Authorities in Acapulco closed the port to small craft after Rick kicked up heavy waves and gusts of wind.
Acapulco’s Civil Protection Department had warned that rains from the outer bands of the storm could cause landslides and flooding in the resort city, but no such effects were reported.
Rick is the second-strongest hurricane in the eastern North Pacific since 1966, when experts began keeping reliable records, Hurricane Center meteorologist Hugh Cobb said.
The strongest was Hurricane Linda, which had maximum winds of 296kph in September 1997.
“Rick is probably going to go into the record books as one of the most rapidly intensifying hurricanes,” Cobb said, adding the storm was fueled by warm ocean temperatures.
The storm was generating some waves up to 15m high near its core, Cobb said, adding there were ship reports of 5m seas elsewhere off the Mexican coast.
Cobb said that while the storm could possibly strengthen slightly, it has probably peaked, and would likely weaken in coming days as it enters relatively cooler waters.
He said the storm’s danger should not be underestimated, however, as Rick will still have the potential as a Category 1 or Category 2 storm to provoke heavy rains and unleash mudslides.
Cobb said it is still uncertain whether the eye of the storm will make landfall.
Rick was forecast to pass near Socorro Island, about 500km southwest of Cabo San Lucas, tomorrow. The island is a nature reserve with a small Mexican Navy post and it hosts scuba-diving expeditions in winter months.
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