Lidia makes landfall as Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds near Mexico’s Puerto Vallarta resort
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hurricane Lidia made landfall as an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm Tuesday evening with winds of 140 mph (220 kph) near Mexico’s Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta, and then moved inland, still as a powerful hurricane.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Lidia’s eye appeared to have reached land near Las Penitas in the western state of Jalisco. The area is a sparsely populated peninsula.
The hurricane then moved south of Puerto Vallarta to a point inland about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of the resort, and about 90 miles (150 kms) west of the capital of Jalisco state, Guadalajara.
Lidia remained a powerful hurricane even after moving over land, with winds of 105 mph (165 kph) late Tuesday. Jalisco and Nayarit states reported downed trees and power lines.
Lidia was moving east-northeast at about 17 mph (28 kph), and forecasters predicted it could still be a Category 1 hurricane when it brushed by Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city, around midnight.
Jalisco Gov. Enrique Alfaro said via the platform X an hour and a half after Lidia made landfall that the storm had generated “extraordinary rain and high surf” in various places, but that so far there were no reports of injuries or deaths.
The state had 23 shelters open, he said. The Puerto Vallarta city government said a few dozen people had gone to shelters there.
