Hurricane brushes Puerto Vallarta, heads up Mexico coast

By Associated Press AP

PUBLISHED 11:03 PM ET Aug. 29, 2021

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hurricane Nora caused floods and landslides along Mexico's Pacific coast Sunday, while making landfall and passing just inland of the Mazatlan resort area before veering into the Gulf of California and weakening into a tropical storm.

Communities in the coastal states of Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco experienced heavy rain and rough surf as the storm moved northward hugging the shoreline. Though it rapidly lost strength and barely remaining a tropical storm by late Sunday, forecasters warned that its heavy rains still remained a danger for coastal areas.

The Jalisco state government said a teenager from Spain died Saturday night when a hotel partially collapsed in Puerto Vallarta amid severe flooding when Nora passed by the tourist city as a Category 1 hurricane. A woman was also missing there after her car was swept away. Officials said flooding damaged 500 homes and two people were injured in a landslide.

Six fishermen from the state of Guerrero were listed as missing at sea.

Nora had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) late Sunday and was moving to the north-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph). Its center was about 95 miles (155 kilometers) southeast of Los Mochis.

In Puerto Vallarta, two rivers overflowed during the storm and flooded part of the center of the town. A torrent of water shattered a bridge and took away part of a small four-story boutique hotel where the dead boy was found Sunday after eight hours of searching. The rest of his family escaped before the collapse, authorities said.

Jalisco Gov. Enrique Alfaro said the missing woman in Puerto Vallarta was lost when surging waters dragged her from her car and swept her away

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Nora would keep dragging along the mainland shore of the gulf and was expected to weaken into a tropical depression by Monday night. Moisture from the storm could bring heavy rains by midweek to the U.S. Southwest and central Rockies, the center said.

The center said some areas along the west coast of Mexico could see rainfall totals from 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 centimeters) with even more in some spots.