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Monday 19 October 2009

Mexico braces for disaster as second strongest storm on record roars up Pacific coast

Residents in Cabo San Lucas were preparing for disaster today as the second strongest storm on record in the Pacific bore down on them.

Hurricane Rick went into the record books over the weekend after it roared to the top of the Saffir-Simpson scale, going from a Category One storm to a Category Five monster in an astonishing 36 hours.

The storm is roaring roaring towards the popular tourist town of Cabo San Lucas on the Baja California Peninsula today. Its howling winds have been measured at 145mph - bringing it down to a dangerous Category Four storm. Over the weekend winds reached up to 180mph - a potentially catastrophic Category Five.

Forecasters said they expected Rick to make landfall by midweek as a Category 1 or Category 2 hurricane, with winds ranging from 74 mph (120 kph) to 110 mph (177 kph).

Forecasters called on all those in Mexico's southern Baja California peninsula and along the mainland coast to closely monitor the storm, adding Rick would remain an extremely dangerous hurricane for the next day or two before losing some punch over cooler waters.

As of 11 pm EDT Sunday (4am British time this morning), the eye was centered about 410 miles (660 kilometers) south of the peninsula town of Cabo San Lucas. The storm was moving toward the northwest near 13 mph (20 kph). (Daily Mail)