Cyclone Agatha is unusually strong for the time of year. Severe flooding is expected.
Motorists struggle through flooded streets in Tehuantepec, Mexico.
(dpa)
The first hurricane of the season has made landfall on Mexico’s Pacific coast with unusual strength. The center of Cyclone Agatha reached the coast of the state of Oaxaca on Monday afternoon (local time) as a hurricane of level two out of five near the seaside resort of Puerto Ángel, as the American hurricane center NHC announced. The storm was therefore traveling in a northeasterly direction with sustained wind speeds of up to 165 kilometers per hour. It was the strongest hurricane since records began in 1949, making landfall on Mexico’s Pacific coast in May.
According to the information, extremely dangerous floods were expected. Heavy rainfall could trigger life-threatening flash floods and mudslides in the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, it said. The national civil protection authority CNPC had declared the highest warning level for the south and east of Oaxaca. The governor of the southern Mexican state, Alejandro Murat, called on people in a video message on Twitter to get to safety.
The hurricane season runs from May 15 to November 30 in the Pacific and June 1 to November 30 in the Atlantic. The American environmental agency NOAA, to which the NHC belongs, predicted the seventh consecutive above-average active season in the Atlantic this year. The reasons include the effects of the La Niña weather phenomenon and high temperatures on the water surface. However, below-average activity is most likely in the Pacific. According to experts, climate change is likely to cause tropical cyclones to become more intense.