Hurricane Trudy weakens off Mexico as floods hit Veracruz

Hurricane Trudy has weakened slightly off Mexico’s Pacific coast and is expected to lose strength rapidly as it moves away from the mainland, forecasters say.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the storm was about 290 kilometres west-northwest of the port city of Manzanillo on Sunday. Its maximum sustained winds had eased to 155 kilometres an hour, and it was moving northwest at around 9 kilometres an hour.

Trudy is expected to move further from the coast before passing south of Baja California Sur on Monday and Tuesday.

Mexico’s government has lifted all hurricane and tropical storm warnings along the Pacific coast and for the Islas Marías archipelago. However, authorities have urged residents in southwestern and west-central Mexico, as well as Baja California Sur, to keep monitoring the storm.

Floods in the south-east

Separately, a cold front is bringing severe weather to Mexico’s south and south-east. The National Civil Protection Coordination said the system was expected to stall over southern Veracruz, bringing extraordinary and torrential rainfall.

More than 1,500 homes in Veracruz have been affected by floodwaters. Federal, state and local authorities are carrying out clean-up and recovery operations as the water slowly recedes.

Officials are also closely watching river and reservoir levels in Veracruz, Tabasco, Chiapas and Oaxaca. In parts of Tabasco, strong northerly winds and waves of up to 6 metres have already caused coastal flooding and road closures.