Hurricane Lidia continued to move inland over Mexico as a powerful storm, bringing “life-threatening winds and flooding rainfall,” after making landfall as a Category 4 storm on Tuesday evening near the beach resort city of Puerto Vallarta.
This satellite image provided by NOAA shows Hurricane Lidia in the Pacific Ocean approaching Puerto ... [+]
Lidia made landfall as an “extremely dangerous” storm with wind speeds of 140 mph, before weakening and moving inland.
According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, the hurricane continues to remain dangerous as it moves inland over the state of Jalisco as a Category 2 storm with wind speeds of 105 mph.
The Mexican Civil Protection Authority (CNPC) issued a color-coded alert system on X under which parts of central Mexico—including the country’s second-largest city, Guadalajara—are placed under red alert.
The hurricane is expected to bring more than 250 millimeters (10 inches) or “extraordinary” rains to the western coastal states of Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit, Mexico’s National Meteorological Service said.
The agency also warned of wind gusts as high as 220 km/h (135 mph) and dangerous waves as high as 9 meters (30 feet) on the coasts of Jalisco and Nayarit.
140 mph. That was the wind speed of Hurricane Lidia when it made landfall in Mexico on Tuesday night, making it a major Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. According to the NHC, a category 4 storm can cause “catastrophic damage” to “well-built framed homes” and trigger power outages that last “weeks to possibly months.”
Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro wrote on X the hurricane has caused “overflowing of streams…and several floods. But so far there are no reports of people being affected by the storm.” He added Lidia has “fortunately” been downgraded to category 2 storm but warned “This is not the time to lower our guard…We must follow official indications and, in case of emergency, call 9-1-1.”