Hurricane Roslyn rose to a Category 3 on Saturday off Mexico’s Pacific coast and is expected to make landfall with even greater force, according to weather forecasters.
“Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 195 km/h with stronger gusts. Roslyn is a category 3 hurricane,” the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest report at 09H00 GMT.
According to that report, the storm was about 270 km southwest of the port city of Manzanillo.
The NHC warned that the cyclone could “rapidly gain more strength“.
“Roslyn is forecast to be near major hurricane strength as it passes close to and makes landfall along the west-central coast of Mexico late Saturday and Sunday, accompanied by strong winds and a potentially dangerous storm surge,” the weather center said.
“Heavy rains could trigger flash flooding and possible landslides” in coastal areas of southwestern and west-central Mexico, the NHC warned.
Esta mañana #Roslyn es #Huracán categoría 3 en la escala #SaffirSimpson. Puede intensificarse a huracán de categoría 4 en el transcurso del día. Su ingreso a tierra sería como categoría 3 en las inmediaciones de Cabo Corrientes, #Jalisco o las costas de #Nayarit pic.twitter.com/n0NrvvVmnZ
— CONAGUA Clima (@conagua_clima) October 22, 2022
Authorities have declared a precautionary alert in the states of Jalisco, Colima (west), Nayarit and Sinaloa (northwest), located on the Pacific coast.
Mexico is hit every year by tropical cyclones on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts, usually between May and November.
At the end of May, Agatha, the first phenomenon of the season in the Pacific, hit the coasts of the state of Oaxaca (south), where rains in mountainous localities left eleven people dead.
TYT Newsroom