Hurricane Raymond prompts evacuation in western Mexico
Local residents wade through a flooded street in Acapulco, state of Guerrero, Mexico, on September 18, 2013 as heavy rains hit the country. Two tropical storms, Ingrid and Manuel, hit large swaths of the country during a three-day holiday weekend, triggering landslides and causing rivers to overflow in several states.
Hurricane Raymond prompted an evacuation of hundreds from coastal communities in western Mexico on Tuesday.
While the storm has weakened to a category two hurricane, authorities told locals not to let their guard down, as heavy rains could create landslides.
Raymond has sustained winds of 120 miles per hour and is expected to dump heavy rain from Tecpan to Lazaro Cardenas, where hurricane warnings remain in place.
Officials closed schools along the southern Pacific coast and advised residents to stay off the roads and away from the sea.
In September, more than 150 people died in Mexico’s worst floods on record when Tropical Storm Manuel and Hurricane Ingrid hit the country at the same time. The storms caused $6 billion worth of damage.
More from GlobalPost: Double deluge: Tropical Storm Manuel and Hurricane Ingrid hit Mexico at the same time
Weather watchers are hopeful that Raymond will not have the same impact, noting that the storm has stopped moving about 100 nautical miles off Mexico and could move westwards out to sea by late Tuesday or Wednesday.
"Guidance no longer brings the hurricane inland and if this trend continues the warnings for Mexico could be altered," the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said on its website.
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