Rina barrels towards Mexico resorts

2011-10-26 16:57

Cancun, Mexico - Hurricane Rina barrelled towards Cancun and other international tourist resorts early Wednesday on track to strengthen before slamming into Mexico's Caribbean coast.

Already packing 175km/h winds, Rina was forecast to become a major category three storm before making landfall near the sprawling resort city of Cancun on Thursday.

Rina was about 380km south of Cozumel, Mexico, the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said in its 06:00 GMT advisory.

The storm was moving west at 6km/h and was expected to dump up to 40cm of rain on the eastern Yucatan peninsula from early Wednesday into Friday.

The NHC also warned of a storm surge of over 2m above normal sea levels.

Caribbean resort island

A hurricane warning was in effect for the east coast of the Yucatan peninsula from Punta Gruesa up to Cancun on the northern tip. Honduras put its Caribbean resort island of Roatan under tropical storm watch.

The US state department on Tuesday warned its nationals living or on vacation in the area to prepare for the storm, and perhaps consider leaving Mexico as flights could be disrupted once the storm starts to bear down.

"Identify local shelter, monitor local media reports, and follow the instructions of local emergency officials," it said in a travel warning.

"In some areas, adequate shelter from a severe hurricane may not be available to all who choose to stay."

Evacuation vessel found

A Nicaraguan naval vessel that disappeared on Sunday with 29 people on board during an evacuation mission ahead of the storm was found with its occupants all "safe and sound", officials said.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega had ordered the ship to remove people from flood-prone coastal areas but contact was lost after four sailors had picked up 25 indigenous Miskito fishermen, the military said.

The country's civil defence chief, Lieutenant Colonel Freddy Herrera, told AFP that a shrimping boat was trawling when it chanced upon the missing navy boat and notified the authorities, who had been looking for it for two days.

The naval vessel was one of three ships dispatched on Sunday by Ortega to help evacuate Miskito residents from Sandy Bay, a coastal town north of the provincial capital Bilwi.

Loss of life

Central America is still struggling to recover from recent torrential rains that triggered deadly flooding and landslides, swamped huge swathes of farmland, and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

More than 120 people across the region were killed, including 39 in Guatemala, 34 in El Salvador, 29 in Honduras, 16 in Nicaragua and five in Costa Rica.

Rina is the sixth hurricane and 17th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30. After passing near or over Mexico, it is forecast to weaken as it spins towards Cuba and Florida.

- AFP