Category 1 Hurricane Kay made landfall Thursday in Baja California, northwestern Mexico, with winds of 120 km/h. It should decrease in intensity, according to the National Hurricane Center of the United States (NHC).
‘Kay’, on the smallest level of the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, is moving northwest at a speed of 22 km/h. The NHC predicts it will revert to a tropical storm within the next few hours before dissipating.
The authorities, however, asked residents to “redouble their precautions”. “Exceptional occasional rains” could “cause floods” with risks of “landslides”, warned the national water commission.
In the state of Nuevo Leon (north), hit by months of drought, at least four people died during the weekend during floods caused by torrential rains.
The Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Mexico are exposed to hurricanes every year. In October 1997, more than 200 people died during the passage of Paulina on the Pacific coast.
/ATS