MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Hurricane Norma strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane early on Thursday as it neared peak strength in the Pacific, off the coast of popular tourist resorts on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.
“Norma has rapidly intensified into a major hurricane,” the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, adding the storm could strengthen though the day but was likely nearing its peak intensity 255 miles (410 km) from the port city Manzanillo.
Norma is packing maximum winds of nearly 125 miles per hour (201 kmh), the NHC said in its latest bulletin, as the storm moved north at some 6 mph (10 kmh) and could bring hurricane conditions to southern parts of Baja California by Saturday.
The forecaster said Norma would likely begin weakening from Friday through the weekend, and approach land at “near hurricane strength.”
The storm could bring up to 15 inches (38 cm) of rain in parts of Baja California, possibly causing flooding and landslides, it added, while strong swells could bring life-threatening surf to parts of the western coastline.
In the Atlantic, the NHC forecast tropical storm conditions across parts of the Lesser Antilles from Friday as Tropical Storm Tammy heads west at 16 mph (26 km), also threatening heavy rainfall to the northern Windward and Leeward Islands.
Tammy is expected to bring rains as far as the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico over the weekend.
(Reporting by Sarah Morland and Raul Cortes; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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