Bonnie Becomes Hurricane in the Pacific of Mexico

On Monday, Mexico's National Meteorological Service (SMN) reported that Cyclone Bonnie intensified from a tropical storm to a category 1 hurricane on the Mexican Pacific coast, where it will cause rain in the southern states.

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At 7:00 a.m. local time, Bonnie was 265 kilometers south-southwest of Puerto Angel, Oaxaca, and 290 kilometers southeast of Punta Maldonado, Guerrero. The hurricane presents maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometers per hour, gusts of 155 kilometers per hour, and a displacement towards the west-northwest with a speed of 30 kilometers per hour.

Bonnie, which first made landfall on the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica on July 1, will now move parallel to the Pacific coast, where it could reach up to a category 2 on Tuesday.

Although it will not make landfall in Mexico, its wide circulation will cause intense punctual rains, from 75 to 150 millimeters, in the states of Michoacan, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Veracruz.

"Very strong punctual" rains are also forecast in Puebla and "strong punctual" rains in the states of Mexico, Morelos, and Tabasco. Wind gusts of 70 to 90 kilometers per hour and waves of 3 to 5 meters high are expected on the coasts of Oaxaca and Guerrero.

"These rains could generate an increase in the levels of rivers and streams, landslides and floods in low-lying areas of the aforementioned states," the SMN warned.

Previously during its passage through El Salvador over the weekend, Bonnie caused torrential rains that left a woman dead, who was swept away by the current of a river in a neighborhood of San Salvador. The floods also caused damage to 26 homes and 7 landslides.