NATE KILLS 28 IN CENTRAL AMERICA
Hurricane Nate bears down on Mexico, US, leaving cities under hurricane warning
NATE reached hurricane status as it bore down on popular Mexican beach resorts and headed for the United States Gulf Coast yesterday after dumping heavy rains on Central America and leaving at least 28 people dead.
New Orleans, which was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, leaving hundreds dead, and other cities on the US Gulf Coast were under a hurricane warning.
Louisiana, the state home to New Orleans, said President Donald Trump, had approved the release of federal aid to help mitigate the impact of the storm.
With the storm’s top winds swirling at 129kph, some 386km northwest of the western tip of
Cuba, the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) warned that in the US, “the combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline”.
The water was expected to peak at up to 2.5m above ground in some areas.
Luis Felipe Puente, national coordinator of Civil Protection, recommended “avoiding aquatic, touristic and recreational activities” in Quintana Roo.
After moving across the Gulf of Mexico, the storm was set to make landfall along the central US Gulf Coast yesterday, NHC said.
Authorities cancelled school in seven Mexican coastal towns and declared an orange alert for the northern half of Quintana Roo state.
Swells expected to affect northwestern Caribbean land over the weekend “are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions”, according to US forecasters.
New Orleans issued a mandatory curfew yesterday from 6pm, and evacuation orders were issued for certain low-lying areas.
Unlike Hurricane Harvey, which dumped record amounts of rain while hovering over neighbouring Texas for a week, fast-moving Nate was expected to quickly pass along a northerly path.
Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards warned that while Nate was forecast to be a weak hurricane, it could still cause unexpected damage.
In Mississippi, lines formed at gas stations in areas in the potential path of the storm.
Some offshore oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico were evacuated ahead of the storm’s advance.
Nate was still wreaking havoc in Central America, where heavy rains continued causing floods.
Authorities in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have declared a maximum or red alert. AFP