Hurricane Agatha Makes Landfall in Mexico

Forecasters warn of dangerous flooding, winds
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 29, 2022 8:50 AM CDT
Updated May 30, 2022 5:15 PM CDT
Pacific Has Its First Hurricane of the Season
A satellite image made available by NOAA shows Hurricane Agatha off the Pacific coast of Oaxaca state, Mexico, at 8:30am EDT Monday.   (NOAA via AP)

Update: Hurricane Agatha made landfall at 2pm PDT Monday west of Puerto Angel, Mexico, bringing maximum sustained winds of 105mph. It's the earliest a Category 2 storm has made landfall on Mexico's Pacific Coast, CBS News reports. The US National Hurricane Center warned the area could face dangerous coastal flooding and "life-threatening" winds. Heavy rain is forecast through Tuesday, with as much as 20 inches falling in spots. More than 200 shelters have been opened, officials said. A hotel manager reported heavy rain and sudden gusts of wind. "The ocean is really stirred up," Silvia Ranfagni said. Our story from Sunday follows:

Hurricane Agatha, the first hurricane of the season, formed off Mexico’s southern Pacific coast Sunday and was heading quickly for land, per the AP. Agatha could make landfall on Monday near Puerto Escondido, in the southern state of Oaxaca. On Sunday morning, the US National Hurricane Center said the center of Agatha was located about 200 miles west-southwest of Puerto Angel, with winds of 75 mph. It was heading to the north-northwest at 3 mph.

The civil defense office in Oaxaca said the hurricane’s outer bands were already hitting the coast. The office published photos of fishermen hauling their boats up on beaches to protect them from the storm. Agatha is the first tropical storm of the 2022 hurricane season in the eastern Pacific. Because the storm’s current path would carry it over the narrow waist of Mexico’s isthmus, the center said there was a chance the storm’s remnants could reemerge over the Gulf of Mexico. (The Atlantic is expected to have a busier-than-normal hurricane season.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X