Hurricane barrels toward Mexico’s Pacific coast

MEXICO CITY — Mexico on Monday was bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Willa, which intensified into a Category 5 storm expected to wreak havoc on the country’s Pacific coast.

The hurricane could produce “life-threatening” storm surge, wind and rainfall, with a “potentially catastrophic” impact on western-central and southwestern regions of the country, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

The hurricane’s winds were blowing at up to 195 miles per hour, according to Mexico’s National Meteorological Service.

It was making its way northward, but it could weaken and be downgraded to a Category 2 storm before making a landfall on Tuesday, the meteorological service said.

The states of Jalisco, Michoacan, Nayarit and Sinaloa started preparing protective measures such as evacuations and setting up temporary shelters.

The hurricane already sparked heavy rains in Michoacan, where helicopters were flying above affected areas to see if help was needed, the state’s civil protection authorities said on Twitter.

In Jalisco, the authorities were prepared for “a safe and fast evacuation,” the state’s civil protection director Trinidad Lopez told the broadcaster Milenio.

About 2,000 soldiers and civil protection personnel were deployed in Nayarit. School classes were suspended in 11 municipalities in Nayarit and in seven municipalities in Sinaloa, according to Milenio.