Rick: strongest storm in years

2009-10-18 16:43

Mexico City - Hurricane Rick churned up potentially dangerous surf along a swathe of Mexico's coast early on Sunday as an "extremely dangerous" Category 5 storm, the strongest in the eastern North Pacific Ocean in more than a decade.

Rick continues to pack howling winds near 285km/h and its eye was centred about 890km south-southeast of Cabo San Lucas as of 05:00 on Sunday, the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said.

Rick was moving toward the west-northwest at about 22km/h and was expected to begin turning toward the northwest over the coming 48 hours, the centre said.

Forecasters called on all those in Mexico's southern Baja California peninsula and along the mainland coast to closely monitor the storm, adding Rick would remain an extremely dangerous hurricane for the next day or two before losing some punch over cooler waters.

The hurricane was projected to stay well off the Mexican coast for days before closing in on the Baja California Peninsula as a Category 1 or Category 2 hurricane sometime on Wednesday, forecasters said.

The strongest was Hurricane Linda

Early on Sunday, the centre said hurricane-force winds extended outward from Rick's eye up to 95km and forecasters said large swells generated by Rick would continue to pummel Mexico's southwest Pacific coast over the coming days.

Authorities in the resort city of 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 was the second-strongest hurricane in the eastern North Pacific since 1966, when experts began keeping reliable records, said Hurricane Centre meteorologist Hugh Cobb.

The strongest was Hurricane Linda, which generated maximum winds of 296km/h in September 1997.

"Rick is probably going to go into the record books as one of the most rapidly intensifying hurricanes," Cobb said.

The storm was generating some waves up to 15 meters high near its core, Cobb said, adding there were ship reports of 5-meter sea swells elsewhere off the Mexican coast.

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.

- SAPA