Hurricane Karl eyes Gulf of Mexico

2010-09-17 08:27

Veracruz - Karl reached hurricane force in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday and was expected to strengthen more before hitting Mexico's coast near a port and an oil hub on Friday.

The US National Hurricane Centre in Miami, Florida, said there was a possibility that Karl could become a major hurricane with winds of 175km/h or higher before making landfall.

The Mexican government issued a hurricane warning for a 250km stretch of coast in Veracruz state. On its predicted path, Karl could make landfall near the coastal city of Tuxpan and the oil hub of Poza Rica.

Authorities in Veracruz – where the southern part was severely flooded over the past few weeks - braced for a hit on its northern coast. Workers in Veracruz city cut dangerous tree limbs that could become flying debris.

In the beach town of Tecolutla, just south of Poza Rica, fishermen and operators of small tour boats were pulling their craft out of the water.

Possible evacuations

"We are getting ready and warning people early, to avoid any loss of human life," said Peralta, whose town of about 25 000 was lashed by Hurricane Dean in 2007 and severely flooded by a tropical depression in 1999. "We are ready to take drastic measures."

"We are hearing it may hit as a Category two or Category three on Friday, so we'll have to see whether we evacuate people tonight, or tomorrow," said Peralta.

The port of Tuxpan was closed to small craft Thursday, and Port Captain Gaspar Cime said larger vessels would be banned later in the day. Tuxpan has about 135 000 people.

By Thursday afternoon, Karl was centred 450km east-southeast of Tuxpan, with winds of 120km/h. It was moving westward rapidly at about 19km/h.

In the Atlantic, Hurricane Igor spun into a Category 4 storm that could generate dangerous rip currents along the US East Coast over the weekend and bring large swells to the Bahamas and Virgin Islands before that. Category 2 Hurricane Julia was not a threat to land.

Karl could cause storm surges of 2 to 3 metres and "large and destructive waves", as well as dump up to 40cm of rain in some areas of Veracruz state, the Hurricane Centre said in a statement.

Hurricane Julia

Poza Rica, while slightly inland, houses important pipelines and natural gas- and oil-processing plants operated by the state-owned oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos. Pemex said it had no immediate plans to halt production at the plants because of the storm.

About 80 000 people have had their homes damaged and nine people have been killed in flooding from heavy rains in southern Veracruz since August 19. Officials expressed concern Karl could raise river levels again, just as some residents are thinking of returning to their homes.

As a tropical storm, Karl hit Yucatan on Wednesday, downing tree limbs and causing power outages. The storm made landfall on the Mexican Caribbean coast about midway between the cruise ship port of Majahual and the coastal town of Xcalak.

Farther to the east in the Atlantic, Hurricane Julia briefly intensified into a powerful Category 4 storm on Wednesday before weakening to Category 2 early on Thursday.

Julia had maximum sustained winds near 160km/h. Hurricane Igor's top winds reached 220km/h on a track that could take it over Bermuda by Monday.

- AP