Tropical Storm Lester strengthened into a hurricane off Mexico's southern Pacific coast Friday, threatening to mimic Hurricane Pauline's deadly march through the area last year.
Lester packed sustained winds of 80 mph and was 152 miles southwest of Huatulco, Oaxaca, a plush tourist resort in an otherwise impoverished region. It was expected to make landfall early today.The hurricane could intensify further as it nears the coast of Oaxaca, and rains of 5 to 10 inches "could produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," according to the U.S. National Weather Service in Miami.
"Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion in the hurricane warning area," the service said in a bulletin.
Lester was already producing heavy rainfall in the southern state of Chiapas, where hundreds of people died last month after a series of torrential storms. Smaller ports in Chiapas and Oaxaca were closed to shipping.
Further north, Tropical Storm Madeline was heading toward the Baja California peninsula, threatening to bring torrential rains to the Los Cabos tourist resorts and Sinaloa state. Madeline may also become a hurricane, according to Mexican and U.S. weather services.
Forecasters said Lester could hit Huatulco directly or sweep up the coast toward Acapulco in Guerrero state, where up to 400 people died last October after Hurricane Pauline steered a path of destruction through the famous resort.
"There's a chance Lester will pass through the mountains of Oaxaca and arrive in Guerrero in 36 hours," Alberto Hernandez Unzon, chief of the hurricane section for Mexico's National Meteorological Service, told Reuters.