Hurricane Rick downgrades to tropical storm and leaves minor damage in Mexico

Rick demoted this monday from hurricane to tropical storm over southwestern Mexico, a few hours after entering the country, where it has caused power outages and fallen trees and signs, although several areas remain on alert, authorities said.

At 1:00 p.m. local time, the cyclone was about 170 kilometers north of the port of Lázaro Cárdenas, in Michoacán, and was blowing maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour (kph), according to the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Rick, which arrived in the country as a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with maximum sustained winds of 165 kph, was moving at 17 kph to the north and its torrential rains are expected to produce “flash floods and landslides”, detailed the NHC.

It will also cause high waves in coastal areas until early Tuesday morning. “These swells are likely to cause a life-threatening surge.”

According to him National Meteorological Service (SMN) Mexican, Rick struck early Monday in the vicinity of the La Unión municipality of Isidoro Montes de Oca, in the state of Guerrero, neighboring Michoacán.

The organism exhorted the population to take extreme precautions after warning that “the rains caused by the cyclone can cause landslides, increase in the levels of rivers and streams, and overflows and floods in low-lying areas.”

According to a Reuters witness and images shared by local media, the main damages caused by Rick’s passage were trees and fallen signs on the streets of coastal points such as Zihuatanejo, in Guerrero, and Lázaro Cárdenas.

The state Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) reported in a statement that, as a result of the strong winds and rainfall, nearly 100,000 users were without power in Guerrero and Michoacán.

The NHC added that “continued weakening (of the tropical storm) is expected this afternoon and evening, and Rick is forecast to dissipate over the mountainous terrain of Mexico tonight.”