Acapulco, Mexico: Residents in Mexico’s coastal city of Acapulco braced for the arrival of major Hurricane Polo on Tuesday, after it earlier reached Category 5 strength, the highest possible.
Also on Tuesday, the US National Hurricane Center said Polo continued intensifying off Mexico’s Pacific coast, posing life-threatening flooding risks.
Despite its proximity and the heavy rains it will bring, Polo is expected to move slowly off the coast over the next couple of days and shift its trajectory farther from the shore, an NHC advisory added.
Footage showed swollen waves and strong winds bending palm trees in Acapulco, Guerrero, which in 2023 suffered from Hurricane Otis, considered the strongest tropical cyclone ever to make landfall on the Mexican Pacific coast.
Polo, classified by the NHC as “extremely dangerous”, is currently located some 205 miles (335 km) south of the tourist town of Zihuatanejo and 345 miles south-southeast of the port city of Manzanillo.
Rainfall in the coastal states of Guerrero and Michoacan is expected to produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, while less harmful rains are also expected in coastal portions of Oaxaca, Colima and Jalisco, the NHC said.
Mexican authorities warned of intense rainfall forecast for western and southern parts of the country, which could cause rivers to overflow.