AFP UK

Residents and National Guard members clean the streets after the arrival of Hurricane Roslyn in Nayarit State, Mexico, on October 23, 2022

Hurricane Roslyn weakened rapidly Sunday after making landfall on Mexico’s Pacific coast, nonetheless leaving damage from high winds, landslides and flooding.

No deaths have been tallied so far but there were widespread reports of damage amid fears that still-rising rivers could lead to more flooding.

The storm was some 55 miles (90 kilometers) south-southeast of Durango, capital city of the state of the same name, with maximum sustained winds of 70 miles per hour, the NHC said in its 1800 GMT update.

“Rapid weakening is expected to continue, and Roslyn is forecast to become a tropical depression by this evening and dissipate tonight or early Monday,” the hurricane center said.

Civil protection authorities in the hardest-hit states of Nayarit and Jalisco reported material damage, flooding, falling trees and landslides that blocked highways.

“We have floods but they do not represent a risk as such, and we have not reported any loss of human life,” Pedro Nunez, the head of Nayarit Civil Protection, told Televisa.

But with rain continuing, he said river levels were being closely monitored.

“It was a bit scary,” Erik Newcomer, an American who settled in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta three months ago, told AFP. He said he had to evacuate his children as water entered their home, adding, “My house was destroyed.”

In the village of Sayulita in Nayarit state, landslides buried some houses. Residents waded through mud to try to salvage their possessions.

On a journey from Puerto Vallarta to the hardest hit part of Nayarit, AFP observed a mudslide that forced the closure of a highway and nearly buried a trailer.

But as the storm began to pass, the Mexican government discontinued all warnings south of the coastal city of San Blas, including Puerto Vallarta.

A tropical storm warning remained in effect from San Blas north to Mazatlan.

On Saturday, Roslyn had strengthened to a major Category 4 storm as it approached Mexico’s Pacific coast.

Authorities had declared an alert in the Pacific coast states of Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Sinaloa.

Tropical cyclones hit Mexico every year on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts, usually between May and November.

At the end of May, Agatha, the first Pacific storm of the season, hit the coast of the southern state of Oaxaca, where heavy rain in mountainous towns killed 11 people.

Back in October 1997, Hurricane Pauline struck Mexico’s Pacific coast as a Category 4 storm, leaving more than 200 dead.

Businesses in the tourist area of Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco state, Mexico, boarded up shopfronts in preparation for Hurricane Roslyn's landfall

Hurricane Roslyn made landfall on the west coast of Mexico on Sunday as a powerful Category 3 storm, the US National Hurricane Center said, as communities sheltered from damaging winds, a dangerous storm surge and flash flooding.

The storm hit near the small town of Santa Cruz in the coastal Nayarit state around 5:30 am (1130 GMT) packing estimated maximum sustained winds of 120 miles (195 kilometers) per hour, the NHC said.

Just hours before hitting the Mexican shore, Roslyn was downgraded from a Category 4 to a Category 3 storm on the five-tier Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale, with the NHC predicting “rapid weakening” after landfall.

The NHC and the Mexico meteorological service warned of damaging winds, heavy rains that could cause flash flooding and landslides and waves up to six meters (20 feet) high along the Pacific coast. 

“Roslyn is expected to produce a life-threatening storm surge with significant coastal flooding in areas of onshore winds” through Sunday, the NHC said, adding that near the coast “the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves.”

Authorities issued hurricane warnings for portions of the Pacific coast states of Jalisco, Nayarit, Sinaloa and Las Islas Marias, some 60 miles offshore.

High winds and rough seas hit the Jalisco resort of Puerto Vallarta, home to some 220,000 people and one of the largest towns in the area affected by the hurricane, around 0900 GMT.

In the Nayarit town of Bucerias, the downpour turned some roads into rivers.

Residents were on high alert after Roslyn, the most powerful storm so far of the Pacific season, reached Category 4 after forming on Friday before it was downgraded. 

– ‘Heed every warning’ –

Jalisco, which is slated to get up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in some spots, set up shelters in the cities of Cabo Corrientes, La Huerta and Puerto Vallarta.

Victor Hugo Roldan, director of civil protection in Jalisco, told reporters on Saturday that several hundred people had been evacuated from the town of La Huerta, close to the hurricane’s expected path. 

Most went to relatives’ homes, while some went to shelters, he said.

Businesses in the resort town began to close Saturday afternoon on officials’ recommendations.

Residents rushed to make last-minute preparations, though by late Saturday afternoon some tourists were still lounging on the beach or unsuccessfully searching for open bars and restaurants. 

For 59-year-old shopping mall manager Graciano Pena, the memory of 2002’s Hurricane Kenna, which made landfall as a damaging Category 4 and left four dead, is still fresh.

“After that experience, we heed every warning and make preparations ahead of time,” he said. 

Other coastal states also prepared shelters.

Tropical cyclones hit Mexico every year on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts, usually between May and November.

At the end of May, Agatha, the first Pacific storm of the season, hit the coast of the southern state of Oaxaca, where heavy rain in mountainous towns killed 11 people.

In October 1997, Hurricane Pauline struck Mexico’s Pacific coast as a Category 4 storm, leaving more than 200 dead.

In this file photo from March 6, 2019, a woman checks Albert Einstein manuscripts at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem

The Israeli government decided on Sunday to allocate millions of dollars for a museum to house the world’s largest collection of Albert Einstein documents, the Hebrew University said.

It will be built on the university’s Givat Ram campus in Jerusalem, with the government committing to approximately $6 million and the university raising another $12 million.

Einstein, one of the founding fathers of the Hebrew University, was a non-resident governor of the institution.

Lauded as one of the greatest theoretical physicists of all time, Einstein died in 1955 aged 76.

He bequeathed his archives to the university, and curator Roni Grosz said its 85,000 items make it the world’s most extensive collection of Einstein documents.

The museum will house the entire Einstein archive, and serve as an “innovative space for scientific and technological education”, the university said.

“With cutting-edge exhibition techniques, scientific demonstrations, and original documents, the Museum will present Einstein’s contributions to science, the impact of his discoveries on our lives today, his public activity and involvement in key historical moments during his lifetime,” a statement said.

Einstein’s theories of relativity revolutionised the field by introducing new ways of looking at the movement of objects in space and time.

He also made major contributions to quantum mechanics theory, and won the Nobel physics prize for 1921.

Einstein also became a pop culture icon because of his dry witticisms and trademark unruly hair, moustache and bushy eyebrows.

Original papers written by Einstein sell for millions at auction to this day.

Businesses in the tourist area of Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco state, Mexico, boarded up shopfronts in preparation for Hurricane Roslyn's landfall

Hurricane Roslyn made landfall on the west coast of Mexico on Sunday as a powerful Category 3 storm, the US National Hurricane Center said, as communities braced for damaging winds, a dangerous storm surge and flash flooding.

The storm hit the central Nayarit state around 5:30 am (1130 GMT) packing estimated maximum sustained winds of 120 miles (195 kilometers) per hour, the NHC said.

Just hours before hitting the Mexican coast, Roslyn was downgraded to a Category 3 storm on the five-tier Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale, with the NHC predicting “rapid weakening” after landfall. 

“Roslyn is expected to produce a life-threatening storm surge with significant coastal flooding in areas of onshore winds” through Sunday, the NHC said, adding that near the coast “the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves.”

It warned as well of damaging winds and heavy rains that could cause flash flooding and landslides.

Authorities have declared a precautionary alert in the Pacific coast states of Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Sinaloa.

Victor Hugo Roldan, director of civil protection in Jalisco, told reporters on Saturday that several hundred people had been evacuated from the town of La Huerta, close to the hurricane’s expected path. 

Most went to relatives’ homes, while some went to shelters, he said.

– ‘Heed every warning’ –

Jalisco, which is slated to get up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in some spots, set up shelters in the cities of Cabo Corrientes, La Huerta and the tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta.

Businesses in the resort town began to close Saturday afternoon on officials’ recommendations.

Residents rushed to make last-minute preparations, though by late Saturday afternoon some tourists were still lounging on the beach or unsuccessfully searching for open bars and restaurants. 

For 59-year-old shopping mall manager Graciano Pena, the memory of 2002’s Hurricane Kenna, which made landfall as a damaging Category 4 and left four dead, is still fresh.

“After that experience, we heed every warning and make preparations ahead of time,” he said. 

Other coastal states also prepared shelters.

Tropical cyclones hit Mexico every year on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts, usually between May and November.

At the end of May, Agatha, the first Pacific storm of the season, hit the coast of the southern state of Oaxaca, where heavy rain in mountainous towns killed 11 people.

In October 1997, Hurricane Pauline struck Mexico’s Pacific coast as a Category 4 storm, leaving more than 200 dead.

The Chateau de Chambord's energy bill is expected to reach the cost of two temporary exhibitions and a festival

Inside his French chateau on the riverbanks of the Loire, Xavier Leleve dreads to find out how much it will cost to heat the 12th-century building this winter.

Energy bills in France are expected to soar compared to last year, partly as a result of a hike in gas prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The prospect is particularly worrying owners and directors of large historical buildings dotted along the Loire.

Usually, Leleve pays 15,000 to 20,000 euros ($14,800 to $19,700) in heating, electricity and gas each winter to keep the Meung-sur-Loire castle up and running.

But this year, “it’ll be five to ten times more expensive. You simply can’t start spending that much on energy,” he said.

It would divert funds from other projects, including the much-needed conservation of some parts of the listed building.

In a wing of the castle closed off to the public, he pointed to the windows.

Some looked in bad shape, with duct tape covering some wooden frames and barely keeping out the outside cold.

Other windows were brand new, put in place after long discussions with the regional cultural authority on what they should look like to best respect the castle’s original aesthetics.

“A window costs around 10,000 euros and we have 148 of them, so you can imagine how much the window budget is,” said Leleve.

– ‘Bare minimum’ –

An hour’s drive away down the river, Charles-Antoine de Vibraye has decided the best course of action to keep his huge family home heated this winter is to do nothing at all.

The Cheverny chateau, which inspired Captain Haddock’s family estate in “The Adventures of Tintin”, has belonged to the same family for six centuries, its website says.

Today some of the family still live in one wing of the stately home, but the rest of the building and its grounds include a restaurant and a Tintin exhibition, and are open to paying visitors.

De Vibraye says the business — one of the most visited Loire Valley castles — is successful enough for the family to be able to afford the extra cost of the 30,000 to 40,000 litres of heating oil needed each year.

He does not plan to increase the building’s insulation either.

“If you trap in the heat, you just help the possible fungi and insects that will eat up your wood,” he said.

“You need to limit heating to a bare minimum to not upset this healthy cycle of thermal exchanges inside a historical building,” he added, though admitting a constant temperature was better for old furniture.

He said two-thirds of the building was heated, “especially in the rooms that people visit and where there is historical furniture”.

– New sawmill –

A little further south, four large logs burn in the chimney at the bottom of a sweeping staircase in the state-owned Chateau of Chambord, the only source of heat for visitors.

But its offices, shops and some 40 houses on its estate are heated.

“The budget has doubled in two years. We’ve gone from 260,000 euros to more than 600,000 in the budget for 2023,” said Jean d’Haussonville, the director of the surrounding estate.

The castle, one of several on the section of the Loire Valley listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, usually works with an annual budget of 30 million euros a year.

Of that, the energy bill is now expected to be equivalent to the cost of two temporary exhibitions and a festival, he said.

D’Haussonville said that had sparked serious thought about how to transition to alternative sources of energy, for example setting up solar panels on its hangars.

In the coming months, management will also build a sawmill in the chateau’s 50-square-kilometre (19-square-mile) forest, which could see its wood used for heating in the long run.

Until then, managers are hoping a new IT system might help avoid unnecessary expenses and are continuing a conversion to LED lights.

“It’s a programme that allows you, for example, to turn off lights when there’s no one in a room, and to reduce its temperature to just 8 degrees Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit) at night,” d’Haussonville said.

He said they planned this way to have reduced their energy consumption by at least 10 percent by next year.

The Chateau de Chambord's energy bill is expected to reach the cost of two temporary exhibitions and a festival

Inside his French chateau on the riverbanks of the Loire, Xavier Leleve dreads to find out how much it will cost to heat the 12th-century building this winter.

Energy bills in France are expected to soar compared to last year, partly as a result of a hike in gas prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The prospect is particularly worrying owners and directors of large historical buildings dotted along the Loire.

Usually, Leleve pays 15,000 to 20,000 euros ($14,800 to $19,700) in heating, electricity and gas each winter to keep the Meung-sur-Loire castle up and running.

But this year, “it’ll be five to ten times more expensive. You simply can’t start spending that much on energy,” he said.

It would divert funds from other projects, including the much-needed conservation of some parts of the listed building.

In a wing of the castle closed off to the public, he pointed to the windows.

Some looked in bad shape, with duct tape covering some wooden frames and barely keeping out the outside cold.

Other windows were brand new, put in place after long discussions with the regional cultural authority on what they should look like to best respect the castle’s original aesthetics.

“A window costs around 10,000 euros and we have 148 of them, so you can imagine how much the window budget is,” said Leleve.

– ‘Bare minimum’ –

An hour’s drive away down the river, Charles-Antoine de Vibraye has decided the best course of action to keep his huge family home heated this winter is to do nothing at all.

The Cheverny chateau, which inspired Captain Haddock’s family estate in “The Adventures of Tintin”, has belonged to the same family for six centuries, its website says.

Today some of the family still live in one wing of the stately home, but the rest of the building and its grounds include a restaurant and a Tintin exhibition, and are open to paying visitors.

De Vibraye says the business — one of the most visited Loire Valley castles — is successful enough for the family to be able to afford the extra cost of the 30,000 to 40,000 litres of heating oil needed each year.

He does not plan to increase the building’s insulation either.

“If you trap in the heat, you just help the possible fungi and insects that will eat up your wood,” he said.

“You need to limit heating to a bare minimum to not upset this healthy cycle of thermal exchanges inside a historical building,” he added, though admitting a constant temperature was better for old furniture.

He said two-thirds of the building was heated, “especially in the rooms that people visit and where there is historical furniture”.

– New sawmill –

A little further south, four large logs burn in the chimney at the bottom of a sweeping staircase in the state-owned Chateau of Chambord, the only source of heat for visitors.

But its offices, shops and some 40 houses on its estate are heated.

“The budget has doubled in two years. We’ve gone from 260,000 euros to more than 600,000 in the budget for 2023,” said Jean d’Haussonville, the director of the surrounding estate.

The castle, one of several on the section of the Loire Valley listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, usually works with an annual budget of 30 million euros a year.

Of that, the energy bill is now expected to be equivalent to the cost of two temporary exhibitions and a festival, he said.

D’Haussonville said that had sparked serious thought about how to transition to alternative sources of energy, for example setting up solar panels on its hangars.

In the coming months, management will also build a sawmill in the chateau’s 50-square-kilometre (19-square-mile) forest, which could see its wood used for heating in the long run.

Until then, managers are hoping a new IT system might help avoid unnecessary expenses and are continuing a conversion to LED lights.

“It’s a programme that allows you, for example, to turn off lights when there’s no one in a room, and to reduce its temperature to just 8 degrees Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit) at night,” d’Haussonville said.

He said they planned this way to have reduced their energy consumption by at least 10 percent by next year.

Hurricane Roslyn is now a Category 4 storm as it approaches Mexico's Pacific coast

Communities along the west coast of Mexico prepared for Hurricane Roslyn, a Category 3 storm, to make landfall Sunday as the US National Hurricane Center warned of potentially damaging winds, a dangerous storm surge and flash flooding.

The major storm was about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of the city of Tepic, with maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour and moving north at about 16 mph, the NHC said in its 0900 GMT update.

It is forecast to slam into the coast of Nayarit state on Sunday morning at or near major hurricane strength, the NHC said.

“Little change in strength is anticipated before landfall later this morning, and rapid weakening is expected after landfall,” the NHC said.

“On the forecast track, the center of Roslyn will approach the coast of west-central Mexico, likely making landfall along the coast of the Mexican state of Nayarit Sunday morning.”

Both the NHC and the Meteorological Service of Mexico warned of flash flooding and landslides caused by the storm. 

“Roslyn is expected to produce a life-threatening storm surge with significant coastal flooding near and to the east of where the center makes landfall,” the NHC said.

“Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves.”

Authorities have declared a precautionary alert in the Pacific coast states of Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Sinaloa.

Victor Hugo Roldan, director of civil protection in Jalisco state, told reporters on Saturday that several hundred people had been evacuated from the town of La Huerta, close to the hurricane’s expected path. 

Most went to relatives’ homes, while some went to shelters, he said.

– ‘Heed every warning’ –

Jalisco, which is slated to get up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in some spots, has set up shelters in the cities of Cabo Corrientes, La Huerta and the tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta. 

Businesses in the resort town began to close Saturday afternoon on officials’ recommendations.

Residents rushed to make last-minute preparations, though by late Saturday afternoon some tourists were still lounging on the beach or unsuccessfully searching for open bars and restaurants. 

For 59-year-old shopping mall manager Graciano Pena, the memory of 2002’s Hurricane Kenna, which made landfall as a damaging Category 4 and left four dead, is still fresh.

“After that experience, we heed every warning and make preparations ahead of time,” he said. 

Other coastal states were also preparing shelters.

Forecasts suggest Roslyn could make landfall near San Blas, a town of about 40,000 with several fishing communities.

Tropical cyclones hit Mexico every year on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts, usually between May and November.

At the end of May, Agatha, the first Pacific storm of the season, hit the coast of the state of Oaxaca (south), where heavy rain in mountainous towns killed 11 people.

In October 1997, Hurricane Pauline struck Mexico’s Pacific coast as a Category 4 storm, leaving more than 200 dead.

Hurricane Roslyn is now a Category 4 storm as it approaches Mexico's Pacific coast

Communities along the west coast of Mexico prepared Saturday for Hurricane Roslyn, a major Category 4 storm, as the US National Hurricane Center warned of potentially damaging winds, dangerous storm surge and flash flooding.

The storm was about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southwest of Cabo Corrientes, with maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour, and was moving north at about 10 miles per hour, the NHC said in its 1200 GMT update.

It is forecast to slam into the coast of Nayarit state on Sunday morning at or near major hurricane strength, the NHC said.

“Although some weakening could occur tonight, Roslyn is expected to be at or near major hurricane strength when it makes landfall on Sunday,” the NHC said.

“On the forecast track, the center of Roslyn will approach the coast of west-central Mexico, likely making landfall along the coast of the Mexican state of Nayarit Sunday morning.”

Both the NHC and the Meteorological Service of Mexico warned of flash flooding and landslides caused by the storm. 

“A dangerous storm surge is expected to produce significant coastal flooding near and to the east of where the center makes landfall,” the NHC said.

Authorities have declared a precautionary alert in the Pacific coast states of Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Sinaloa.

Victor Hugo Roldan, director of civil protection in Jalisco state, told reporters that several hundred people had been evacuated from the town of La Huerta, close to the hurricane’s expected path. 

Most went to relatives’ homes, while some went to shelters, he said.

– ‘Heed every warning’ –

Jalisco, which is slated to get up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in some spots, has set up shelters in the cities of Cabo Corrientes, La Huerta and the tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta. 

Businesses in the resort town began to close Saturday afternoon on officials’ recommendations.

Residents rushed to make last-minute preparations, though by late Saturday afternoon some tourists were still lounging on the beach or unsuccessfully searching for open bars and restaurants. 

For 59-year-old shopping mall manager Graciano Pena, the memory of 2002’s Hurricane Kenna, which made landfall as a damaging Category 4 and left four dead, is still fresh.

“After that experience, we heed every warning and make preparations ahead of time,” he said. 

Other coastal states were also preparing shelters.

Forecasts suggest Roslyn could make landfall near San Blas, a town of about 40,000 with several fishing communities.

Tropical cyclones hit Mexico every year on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts, usually between May and November.

At the end of May, Agatha, the first Pacific storm of the season, hit the coast of the state of Oaxaca (south), where heavy rain in mountainous towns killed 11 people.

Back in October 1997, Hurricane Pauline struck Mexico’s Pacific coast as a Category 4 storm, leaving more than 200 dead.

These withered corn stalks are in a bone-dry field in Nebraska, which like much of the US Midwest has gone months without rain

Months without rain have left farmers across the vast US Midwest, part of the country’s essential “breadbasket,” seeing crop yields in freefall, with some fields too damaged to harvest.

At the 4,000-acre (1,600-hectare) Tucker Farms in Venango, Nebraska, “we were only able to harvest… around 500” acres, most of it wheat, said Rachel Tucker.

Much of the rest had shriveled up under a relentlessly hot sun.

The drought has attracted grasshoppers, which threatened the flowers the Tuckers also grow — until they brought in praying mantises to control the winged pests.

If the American West has been suffering through water shortages for years, the Midwest has not seen conditions this bad since 2012.

“It’s even worse than 2012,” said Tucker. “Much worse.”

Her husband, whose grandfather farmed these same fields, says things have not been this bad since the so-called Dust Bowl days of the 1930s.

The story is just as grim to the south, in western Kansas.

“I was catching up with some older farmers this morning,” said Marc Ramsey, whose family has farmed near the small town of Scott City for nearly a century.

“Guys that are in their 70s and 80s are saying, you know, they haven’t even experienced anything like this in their lifetime. So it’s pretty bad.”

Rainfall has been almost nonexistent since late July, he said. Two inches “was all we’ve had, basically all year.” 

Rex Buchanan, director emeritus of the Kansas Geological Survey, said one thing seems different from the dry years of 2010-2012: “It seems like when the rain shut off, it just completely shut off.”

– Dwindling groundwater –

Drought has hit the three major US crops: wheat, corn and soybeans, and the US Department of Agriculture recently had to lower its nationwide yield predictions. 

Along With Kansas and Nebraska, the Midwestern state of South Dakota has also been hard-hit.

In normal times, these three states provide one-third of US winter wheat production, and one-fourth of the corn output. 

Approximately 30 percent of Marc Ramsey’s land is irrigated and, meaning that portion is doing better than his other fields. Tucker Farms’ single irrigated field also fares better than the others. 

But even some of Ramsey’s irrigated fields are producing only 80 bushels of corn per acre, less than half the usual rate.

High levels of water usage have led to “pretty dramatic declines” in aquifers across western Kansas, Buchanan said, adding that farmers in some areas “have really struggled.”

“They’ve seen some wells go dry. They’ve had to return to dryland farming,” meaning without irrigation.

– ‘You just worry’ –

With water rights strictly limited, Buchanan said some farmers have banded together in agreements on more cautious use of subterranean water, drawing as much as 20 percent less than permitted. 

Ramsey, like the Tuckers, carries crop insurance covering exceptional losses.

But a year like 2022 can push up premiums, which were already rising due to increased commodity costs.  

Insurance “covers your cost of productivity, for the most part,” Ramsey said. “And so we’ll be here next year and try it again.”

But insurance doesn’t refill dwindling aquifers — something that autumn rains usually take care of.

The lack of soil moisture “will be a concern going forward into winter and next spring without a change in what we are currently seeing,” said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

Though Buchanan says that “there’s certainly an awareness (among farmers) about climate change,” despite the political sensitivity of the subject in the United States. 

Farming is always difficult and unpredictable work — and in years like this, said farmer Rachel Tucker, “you just worry about the suicide rate.”

“So I’m hoping that everybody can stay in high spirits, and hope for the best next year.”

Hurricane Roslyn is now a category 4 storm as it approaches Mexico's Pacific coast

Hurricane Roslyn strengthened to a major Category 4 storm on Saturday as it approached Mexico’s Pacific coast, the US National Hurricane Center said, warning of potentially damaging winds, dangerous storm surge and flash flooding.

The storm was some 155 miles (225 kilometers) west-southwest of Manzanillo, with maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour, and was moving north-northwest at about eight miles per hour.

It is forecast to slam into the coast of Nayarit state on Sunday at or near major hurricane strength, the NHC said in its 1500 GMT update.

“Additional strengthening is forecast today. Although some weakening is possible beginning tonight, Roslyn is expected to still be near or at major hurricane strength when it makes landfall on Sunday,” the NHC said.

“On the forecast track, the center of Roslyn will move parallel to the southwestern coast of Mexico through midday today, then approach the coast of west-central Mexico, likely making landfall along the coast of the Mexican state of Nayarit Sunday morning.”

Both the NHC and the Meteorological Service of Mexico warned of flash flooding and landslides caused by the storm. 

“A dangerous storm surge is expected to produce significant coastal flooding near and to the east of where the center makes landfall,” the NHC said.

Authorities have declared a precautionary alert in the Pacific coast states of Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Sinaloa.

Victor Hugo Roldan, director of civil protection in Jalisco state, told reporters in Guadalajara that 270 people had been evacuated from the town of La Huerta, close to the hurricane’s expected path. 

Most of them went to relatives’ homes, while 33 went to shelters, he said.

Jalisco, which is slated to get up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in some spots, has set up shelters in the cities of Cabo Corrientes, La Huerta and the tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta. The other coastal states were also preparing shelters.

Forecasts suggest Roslyn could make landfall near San Blas, a town of about 40,000 with several fishing communities.

Tropical cyclones hit Mexico every year on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts, usually between May and November.

At the end of May, Agatha, the first Pacific storm of the season, hit the coast of the state of Oaxaca (south), where heavy rain in mountainous towns killed 11 people.

Back in October 1997, Hurricane Pauline struck Mexico’s Pacific coast as a Category 4 storm, leaving more than 200 dead.