This week’s Mexico and Latin American news has been dominated by a tale of two storms as both Tropical Storm Ernesto and Tropical Storm Hector sought to ruin some vacation plans in both regions.
Ernesto, which prompted evacuations and other safety precautions last week in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Mexico, claimed at least 12 lives in Mexico before the worst was over, according to the latest death toll reported by Fox News Latino.
Hector, on the other hand, seems to pose less of a threat. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is issuing advisories on Tropical Storm Hector. It is located about 435 miles south-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California.
According to the Fox News Latino report, a total of 32 automobiles crashed on the Highway of the Sun, which links the Pacific port city of Acapulco to Mexico City. The pile-up happened on the El Zapote bridge, located 9.3 miles from Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero, due to poor weather. Four people, meanwhile, were killed on the Chilpancingo-Iguala federal highway when two vehicles collided.
Ernesto first made landfall last Tuesday night near Mahahual, a fishing town in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo, as a Category 1 hurricane packing winds of up to 103 mph. The storm crossed the Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday without causing any casualties or serious damage and then moved back over water.
As far as Hector goes, the storm is forecaset to gradually weaken during the period and should become a remnant low by day three, according to the NHC.
It continues to be affected by modertate easterly shear, which has kept “the convection displaced to the west of the center during the past couple of days,” according to the NHC. The shear is expected to continue for the next several days.
Keep visiting www.nhc.noaa.gov and www.travelagentcentral.com for more updates on all the latest storms.