‘Hurricane Rick’ gains strength as it advances on Mexico

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Hurricane “Rick” gained strength as it advanced toward Mexico’s Pacific coast Saturday and risked becoming a major hurricane, the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

At 0000 GMT on Saturday, “Rick” was located 265 kilometers from Zihuatanejo and 305 kilometers from Acapulco, both towns in the state of Guerrero in southern Mexico, and was moving at a speed of 8 kilometers per hour, according to the NHC.

“Rick is forecast to be at or near major hurricane strength when it reaches the coast of southern Mexico by Sunday night or Monday, and life-threatening storm surge and dangerous hurricane-force winds are expected,” the center said in a statement.

Mexico is hit regularly by violent weather on both its Pacific and Caribbean coasts.

The strongest storm this year so far was Hurricane “Grace,” which killed 11 people in the states of Veracruz and Puebla on 21 August.

In late August, two people went missing after Hurricane “Nora” hit the Pacific coast state of Jalisco.