At least four die as Hurricane Jova makes landfall in western Mexico

[News_Editor]

At least four die as Hurricane Jova makes landfall in western Mexico

2011-10-13 08:05:07 GMT+7 (ICT)

GUADALAJARA, MEXICO (BNO NEWS) -- At least four people were killed on Wednesday when Hurricane Jova made landfall in western Mexico, officials said. The storm has since weakened to a tropical depression.

All four deaths were reported in the state of Jalisco where Jova made landfall on late Tuesday evening with maximum sustained winds near 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour, making it a category two hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of intensity.

Two fatalities were reported in the municipality of Cihuatlan where a house collapsed, killing a 21-year-old woman named Norma Irene Rebolledo and her 5-year-old daughter Yolanda Marisol Rebolledo. Cihuatlan is located on the southern coast of Jalisco.

Two other fatalities were reported in the Jose Maria Morelos community, located in the municipality of Tomatlan, where a landslide killed a woman and her 13-year-old son. Tomatlan is located in the northern part of Jalisco.

Access to several communities, including Cihuatlan, La Huerta, Villa Purificacion, Autlan and Cuautitlan de Garcia Barragan was cut off due to water overflowing from the Marabasco River and at least ten connecting creeks.

In Cihuatlan alone, around 5,000 people have been displaced, the municipality's Secretary General Fermin Alvarez Zamora said. As of Wednesday, more than 1,500 people were living at 70 temporary refugee camps which have been set up in the north and southern regions of Jalisco.

State Civil Protection emergency teams used helicopters to rescue at least 19 people in the affected areas, and it was not immediately clear if the death toll could still rise. Officials said electricity was knocked out in several parts of the states of Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan, Nayartit, and Sinaloa, affecting some 107,000 people.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Jova was located about 20 miles (35 kilometers) east-southeast of Tepic, the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Nayarit. The system has weakened to a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds near 35 miles (55 kilometers) per hour, with higher gusts.

"Joda has weakened significantly during the past several hours," said Jack Beven, a senior hurricane specialist at the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC). "The central convection has completely dissipated, there are no surface observations of tropical-storm-force winds, and [recent data] showed no tropical-storm-force winds over water west of the center. It is estimated that the cyclone has weakened to a tropical depression, although some gusts to tropical-storm-force are possible in mountainous areas for the next few hours."

He added: "Although Jova has weakened, inland flooding over Mexico will remain a major concern. Heavy rains due to Jova are likely to continue across portions of western Mexico due to the relatively slow movement of the cyclone and upslope flow into the mountainous terrain. These rains will likely cause dangerous flash floods and mud slides."

Jova is the ninth named storm of the 2011 Eastern Pacific hurricane season. It was followed by Hurricane Irwin which remains active as a tropical storm, about 415 miles (670 kilometers) south of the southern tip of Baja California, and the system could affect the same area as Jova on Thursday.

According to figures released in May, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center is expecting a below normal hurricane season in the Eastern Pacific this year. The outlook calls for 9 to 15 named storms, with five to eight becoming hurricanes and one to three expected to become a major hurricane (category 3 or higher).

An average Eastern Pacific hurricane season produces 15 to 16 named storms, with eight to nine becoming hurricanes and four becoming major hurricanes. The Eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15 through November 30, with peak activity from July through September.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-10-13