Hurricane Lidia made landfall on Mexico’s Pacific coast on Tuesday with very strong wind and rain, causing at least one death.
The eye of the storm, rated a category four out of five, impacted the town of Las Peñitas, 55 km south-west of the resort of Puerto Vallarta.
With sustained winds of up to 220 km per hour, according to the Mexican weather service.
In Punta de Mita in the western state of Nayarit, a falling tree killed a man in his car, the newspaper El Occidental reported on Tuesday evening, citing the civil defence authority.
According to the U.S. Hurricane Centre in Miami, Lidia had developed into an “extremely dangerous’’ hurricane shortly off the coast.
In the affected areas in the states of Jalisco and Nayarit, schools would be closed until Wednesday, local authorities said.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called on residents of the region to seek safety and stay away from low-lying areas and rivers.
Soldiers and civil defense officials were on duty, López Obrador wrote on the online platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Mexico’s weather service warned of very heavy rains in the states of Colima, Jalisco, Michoacán and Nayarit.
Waves up to nine meters high were expected along the coast.
The hurricane season started in the Pacific on May 15, and in the Atlantic on June 1.
The season ends in both regions on Nov. 30.
Tropical cyclones form over warm ocean waters.
Increasing global warming increases the probability of strong storms.
A hurricane is defined as tropical storm system with sustained winds of at least 119 km per hour.
