Hurricane Lidia made landfall as an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm Tuesday evening, with winds of 140 mph (220 kph) near Mexico’s Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Lidia’s eye appeared to have reached land near Las Penitas in the western state of Jalisco. The area is a sparsely populated peninsula. The storm is moving south of Puerto Vallarta, which could cushion the blow on the resort.
Local authorities cancelled classes in communities around the coast. This expected impact follows one day after Tropical Storm Max hit the southern Pacific coast, hundreds of miles away, and then dissipated. Rains from Max washed out part of a coastal highway in the southern state of Guerrero.
Lidia was centered Tuesday about 35 miles (55 kilometres) south-southwest of Puerto Vallarta, and was moving east-northeast at about 16 mph (26 kph).
The hurricane centre warned of possible flash flooding and storm surge from the hurricane.