Tropical storms take aim at Mexican Pacific coast

MEXICO CITY: Tropical Storm Willa gained strength yesterday in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico and is forecast to become a hurricane by today, the US National Hurricane Centre ( NHC) said.

The storm was about 280 miles southwest of the major port of Manzanillo, and had maximum sustained winds of 60mph. It is likely to reach the coast of western Mexico by Wednesday before it accelerates toward the northeast, the NHC said.

Another tropical storm, Vicente, formed in the Pacific off southern Mexico yesterday, churning toward the coast but was only expected to strengthen slightly over the next couple of days, Vicente was about 125 miles southeast of the port of Salina Cruz, where a major refinery owned by national oil company Pemex is located, with maximum sustained winds of 50mph.

The storm was moving at about 9mph toward the west and expected to turn northwest early next week and make landfall near the Mexican states of Guerrero and Michoacan as early as Tuesday.

“Some slight strengthening is possible today ( yesterday) and Sunday (today),” the hurricane centre said. — Reuters