MIAMI (AP) — A gradually weakening Tropical Storm Vance churned Sunday off Mexico's southwest Pacific coast but still threatened heavy rains and flash flooding in several western states of the country.
Vance, a former Category 2 hurricane as of Friday, was losing strength but still was expected to dump heavy rain on the Mexican states of Colima, Nayarit and Sinaloa, as well as parts of Michoacan, Jalisco and Durango, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
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The cyclone was located about 315 miles (510 kilometers) west-southwest of Acapulco, or about 285 miles (455 kilometers) south of Manzanillo, with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 kph), the center said. Vance was moving to the northwest and expected to turn northward in coming days.
Rainfall totals of 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) could produce flooding and mudslides, especially over steep terrain, according to the hurricane center. It said isolated totals of 7 inches (17 centimeters) of rain were possible in some spots.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Olana formed far out in the central Pacific, where it posed no threat to land. Olana had top sustained winds of 45 mph (65 kph) and was located about 580 miles (935 kilometers) west-southwest of Johnston Island, a central Pacific atoll, the hurricane center said.
It’s been an intense hurricane season in the Pacific Ocean, with storms spawning in assembly-line fashion near Hawaii and Mexico as El Niño conditions worsened by global warming create unusual weather, like this week's severe flooding and tornadoes hitting the southwestern United States and the prolonged drought in Central America's Dry Corridor.
