Tropical storm forms off coast of Acapulco
MEXICO CITY — Tropical Storm Carlotta formed in the Pacific Ocean near Mexico’s Acapulco on Friday while the former Hurricane Bud weakened to a tropical depression after passing over the Baja Peninsula.
Carlotta, the third named storm of the Pacific hurricane season, was forecast to make landfall Saturday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
It said that Carlotta had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and its center was located about 60 miles south-southeast of Acapulco.
The storm was moving northeast at 5 mph.
The hurricane center said the storm threatens torrential rains for the coastline of the southern states of Guerrero and Oaxaca, with up to 10 inches possible in some areas.
Also Friday, the Mexican Interior Department reported that there were no deaths in the resort cities of Los Cabos from Tropical Storm Bud, which left the Baja California Peninsula and reemerged over the Gulf of California.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center downgraded Bud to a tropical depression in the morning when its sustained winds dropped to 35 mph. It was moving north at 12 mph toward the Mexican mainland and the state of Sonora.
Mexico’s National Water Commission said Bud had made landfall over Baja California Sur on Thursday night.
That storm’s center was about 195 miles southsoutheast of Guaymas, Mexico. It was expected to bring heavy rain to northwest Mexico and the southwest United States.
Baja California Sur Gov. Carlos Mendoza Davis said preliminary reports indicated that Bud did not cause any significant damage. The airport in La Paz was closed temporarily Friday morning because of limited visibility, but it reopened later in the morning.
Bud lashed palms trees and its waves pounded the sand on the Baja Peninsula, where memories were still fresh of the extensive damage done in 2014 by a direct hit from Category 3 Hurricane Odile.
Overall, however, there was a sense of relief that Bud had been sapped of most of its punch. It was previously a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph.
But it still threw heavy rainfall over a large part of Mexico. Earlier in the week, intense rain overwhelmed a reservoir in the central city of Guanajuato, sending a river of water through downtown streets that flooded homes and vehicles.
The hurricane center said Bud could cause dangerous surf and bring an additional 2 to 4 inches of rain to Sonora state and northwest Mexico, threatening floods and landslides.