Hurricane Otis, "potentially catastrophic", makes landfall in the Pacific of Mexico with category 5

Otis made landfall this Wednesday near Acapulco as a category 5 hurricane, as reported by the National Meteorological Service of Mexico through its social networks.

In the last few hours, Otis advanced rapidly through the Mexican Pacific to impact the state of Guerrero, intensified to category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale and recorded sustained winds of 260 kilometers per hour (km/h) and gusts of 315 km /h.

“Catastrophic damage is likely to occur when the core of the hurricane moves toward the coast,” the CNH published hours before on its X social network account.

According to the same source, at 00:25 local time (05:25 GMT), Otis made landfall in the vicinity of the municipality of Acapulco de Juárez, Guerrero, as a category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with maximum sustained winds of 270. km/h, gusts of 330 km/h and movement at 17 km/h to the northwest.

The extensive cloud bands of Otis will cause extraordinary occasional rains, greater than 250 millimeters, in regions of Guerrero; intense (75 to 150 mm) in areas of Oaxaca, and the probability of occasional heavy showers and rains increases in the State of Mexico, Michoacán, Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala.

Wind gusts of 270 to 330 km/h and waves of 8 to 10 meters high are also expected to continue on the coasts of Guerrero and western Oaxaca, as well as conditions for the formation of waterspouts off the coast of Guerrero. .

The National Meteorological Service (SMN), of the National Water Commission (Conagua), in coordination with the National Hurricane Center of the United States, has designated Punta Maldonado to Zihuatanejo, Guerrero as a prevention and surveillance zone for hurricane effects. , and prevention and surveillance zone for the effects of a tropical storm from Lagunas de Chacahua, Oaxaca, to Punta Maldonado, Guerrero.

Fifteenth hurricane of the season

The precipitation could occur with electric shocks and generate landslides, an increase in the levels of rivers and streams, overflows and floods in areas of the aforementioned states, which is why the population has been asked to heed the emergency warnings and follow the recommendations of the state and Civil Protection authorities.

Likewise, a call has been made to tourists and maritime navigation in the area to take extreme precautions due to intense winds and high waves.

Otis is the fifteenth named cyclone of this season in the Pacific, where Adrian, Beatriz, Calvin, Dora, Eugene, Fernanda, Greg, Hilary, Irwin, Jova, Kenneth, Lidia, Max and Norma formed.

Of them, the most damaging has been Hilary, which in August left four dead in the states of Baja California, Baja California Sur and Sinaloa, all in northern Mexico.