Tropical Storm Ernesto drenched Mexico’s southern Gulf coast today and is expected to head inland. Click “more” below for details.
Ernesto spun through the southern Gulf of Mexico, across waters dotted with oil rigs operated by the state oil company, after hurling rain across the Yucatan Peninsula but causing little major damage. The government closed its largest Gulf coast port, Veracruz and the smaller ports of Alvarado and Coatzacoalcos.
The major oil port of Coatzacoalcos had already gotten 7 inches of rain in the 24 hours before Ernesto’s center passed just a few miles away, according to Mexico’s national weather service. San Pedro in the neighboring state of Tabasco had seen more than 10 inches.
Municipal employee Brito Gomez reported water was waist-high in some neighborhoods.
About 2,000 army and navy personnel are on stand-by to head to the jungle-clad hillside inland to help in rescue work if needed, said Noemi Guzman, Veracruz state civil defense director. Guzman said no flooding had yet been reported at any of the state’s many rivers.
Forecasters said Ernesto was expected to roar through Veracruz state’s lush Los Tuxtlas region, roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Coatzacoalcos, creating the threat of torrential flooding.
Much of the storm was already over land Thursday morning and it was centered about 5 miles north of Coatzacoalcos, moving to the west at 5 mph.
The hurricane center said Ernesto was expected to produce rainfalls of up to 15 inches in some parts of the mountainous areas of Veracruz, Tabasco Puebla and Oaxaca.
With many small communities clinging to hillsides in those states, authorities are worried about potential flash floods and mudslides.
Petroleos Mexicanos, the state oil monopoly, announced it had evacuated 61 workers from a drilling platform and had taken other safety precautions, but it said production had not been affected.
There were no reports of storm deaths or major damage, though Ernesto ripped down billboards, toppled trees and cut electricity as it hit land well south of the region’s main resorts of Cancun and the Riviera Maya and then passed near the Mayan ruins of Calakmul.
Source: Yahoo!
