Tropical Storm Sergio became a hurricane off Mexico on Wednesday and was due to brush by Pacific coastal towns by the weekend, the United States National Hurricane Centre said.
”Additional intensification is likely during the next day or two,” the Miami-based centre said.
It said Sergio, carried winds of 120kph, just qualifying it for hurricane status. The storm was about 625km south-west of the town of Zihuatanejo, Mexican meteorologists said.
Mexico’s Pacific coast has been blitzed with hurricanes and storms this year, whereas its Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico coasts have seen little activity.
Three hurricanes forecast to hit Baja California’s Los Cabos resort towns earlier this year veered away from hotels and condominium complexes popular with US tourists at the last minute.
In October, Hurricane Paul killed two people in north-western Mexico. In September, Hurricane Lane cost three lives along the Pacific coast and Hurricane John killed at least three people in Baja California.
Lane slammed into tomato fields in the agricultural state of Sinaloa, pushing up prices for one of Mexico’s main cooking ingredients and feeding a spike in inflation. — Reuters