Hurricane Agatha set to strike Mexico’s Pacific Coast with winds, rain

Bloomberg

Hurricane Agatha was expected to strike Mexico’s Oaxaca state on Monday with damaging winds, heavy rain and a crashing storm surge, making it the strongest May storm to hit the eastern Pacific on record.
Agatha was already raking the Pacific coastline with damaging gusts and heavy rain. The compact storm, just below Category 3 strength on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, was forecast to push a wall of water into coastal areas, leading to flooding. A hurricane warning has been posted from Salina Cruz to Lagunas de Chacahua.
“Assuming it does hold its intensity, it would be the strongest May hurricane ever to make landfall in the eastern Pacific,” said Dan Pydynowski, a meteorologist with commercial forecaster AccuWeather.
Agatha is the first storm of the eastern Pacific hurricane season, which began May 15, and formed far enough off land that it had time to draw strength over the warm ocean waters before nearing the coast.
The tropical system is expected to be ripped apart by the mountains of southern Mexico and quickly lose strength, however its remnants could cross land into the Atlantic’s Gulf of Mexico and
form into a new storm there this week. There is a 40% chance a new system could form in the Bay of Campeche off Mexico’s east coast near the Yucatan Peninsula.