Hurricane Rina Strengthens in Caribbean on Track Toward Yucatan Peninsula
Hurricane Rina strengthened to a
Category 2 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale as it
churned over Caribbean waters toward resorts on Mexico's Yucatan
Peninsula, the National Hurricane Center said.
Rina's top winds are 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour,
up from 80 mph earlier, according to an NHC website advisory at
5 a.m. Miami time. It's the sixth hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic
storm season that runs from June through November.
"Strengthening is forecast during the next day or so" as
the storm spins over warm waters off the north coast of
Honduras, the center said. Rina may become a major storm later
today or tomorrow, the NHC said.
Mexico issued a hurricane watch from north of Punta Gruesa
to Cancun, which means hurricane conditions are possible within
the area and readied 1,130 storm shelters in the state of
Quintana Roo, which includes Cancun and Cozumel. The country
also declared a tropical storm watch for the east coast of the
Yucatan from Chetumal to Punta Gruesa, the NHC said.
Rina Nearing Resorts
Rina is forecast to approach Cancun in two days, then curve
east toward the west tip of Cuba by the weekend, the NHC's
tracking maps show. The system is about 320 miles east-southeast
of Chetumal, moving west-northwest at 3 mph.
The center forecasts Rina's winds will strengthen to at
least 120 mph, a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale
with the power to snap trees, blow down poorly built homes and
create a "high risk of injury or death to people, livestock and
pets due to flying and falling debris."
Hurricane-force winds of at least 74 mph extend 15 miles
from its core and tropical storm-force winds of 39 mph or more
reach out 115 miles, the NHC said.
The center is also monitoring a low-pressure system just
north of Curacao that's producing thunderstorms over the
southeastern Caribbean. The system has a 40 percent chance of
forming into a tropical cyclone in the next two days, the center
said in a weather outlook.
Bloomberg News