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Storm crashes into Mexico's Gulf Coast

Hurricane Lorenzo weakened into a tropical storm early yesterday after crashing into Mexico's Gulf Coast, its strong wind and heavy rain forcing low-lying coastal communities to evacuate.

Earlier, Lorenzo made landfall along the east-central coast of Mexico, southeast of Tuxpan, after rapidly strengthening into a Category 1 hurricane, the US National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Officials canceled classes and opened more than 60 shelters on the coastline of Veracruz state on Thursday, as Mexico's government issued a hurricane warning from Palma Sola to Cabo Rojo.

At least 30 communities near several rivers were ordered to evacuate late on Thursday.

Residents scrambled to move furniture and belongings to higher ground even as roads began to flood.

Civil protection officials in the coffee-growing Veracruz region said on Thursday some 100,000 people would spend the night on camp beds in schools and public halls further inland.

"We started evacuating them in the afternoon," a spokeswoman said.

"We never expected the hurricane would hit here," said Ribay Peralta, a 33-year-old lawyer who was packing his car with televisions sets, DVD players and other appliances in the town of San Rafael, a low-lying community about 15km from Veracruz's coast.

The ports of Tecolutla, Tuxpan and Nautla were ordered to close by midnight, Veracruz's port authority said.

The mountain ranges and river areas in the Gulf state of Veracruz are dotted with villages connected by precarious roads and are susceptible to disaster.

As of 9am GMT, Lorenzo was centered 45km south-southwest of Tuxpan and was moving westward at 11kph, the center said. It had top sustained winds near 100kph.

The storm was predicted to cause "dangerous and battering waves" as well as storm surge flooding of 0.5m to just more than 1m, the center said.

Forecasters said Lorenzo could dump 13cm to 25cm of rain in Veracruz, with isolated downpours reaching 38cm.

Oil ports in the Mexican part of the Gulf of Mexico were all open to shipping, although some reported large sea swells. The ports are east of where Lorenzo hit.

Mexico's state oil company, Pemex, saw no impact on its oil installations and, given the path of the storm, was not planning emergency measures, a company official said on Thursday.
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