Deadly hurricane makes landfall in Mexico

A very dangerous hurricane has hit Mexico’s Pacific coast.

Hurricane Lidia was a very powerful storm that hit Mexico with extremely strong winds reaching up to 140mph (220km/h).

But the storm has become less strong after moving onto land, with the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) saying it is now a Category 2 storm.

Officials in the state of Nayarit reported that a man died when a tree fell on the van he was driving.

Lidia arrived at the small beach town of Las Penitas right before 6:00 PM local time (12:00 AM GMT).

The hurricane was very strong, being in category 4 out of a maximum of 5 on the hurricane wind scale.

According to the NHC, by 9:00 PM (3:00 AM GMT), Lidia had strong winds of 105 mph (165 km/h). It was passing close to the town of Mascota in Jalisco state.

The center stated that Lidia was heading towards the east-northeast at a speed of 17 mph (28 km/h). It is expected to become weaker soon as it moves over high land in west-central Mexico.

The NHC said that very strong winds from the hurricane could be dangerous to life and they are expected to happen overnight. They also warned about the water levels becoming dangerous, floods happening suddenly, and big waves on the Pacific coast.

Before the storm arrived, Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that 6,000 members of the armed forces were sent to assist the people living there.

“I am telling people who live in the area between Nayarit and Jalisco, especially in Bahia de Banderas, Puerto Vallarta, and Tomatlan, to be careful,” he said on a social media website called X, which used to be called Twitter. He advises people to avoid areas that are lower in elevation, rivers, and slopes.

In Puerto Vallarta, a beach town, people stayed inside to avoid the storm. Store owners secured windows with boards and placed sandbags in case there was too much water.

The airport will be closed from 4:00 pm local time until 8:00 am on Wednesday.

Some areas of Mexico’s Pacific coastline have experienced a lot of flooding this week due to the impact of Tropical Storm Max. According to local news, two people died because of the storm in Guerrero state.

Every year, Mexico gets hit by hurricanes on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts. The official time for hurricanes in the country is from May to November. Most hurricanes form from July to October.

Scientists are not sure yet how climate change affects the number of storms, but they believe that warmer sea temperatures make the air hotter above it and provide more energy for hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons to form and become stronger.

Therefore, they will probably be stronger with heavier rainfall.

The Earth has gotten warmer by 1. 1C (3398F) since industry started, and it will keep getting hotter unless governments reduce emissions significantly.