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Tropical Storm Katia has been downgraded from a tropical storm to a tropical depression as it moves into the interior of Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center, NHC, has announced.
The NHC said as a depression, Katia was blowing maximum sustained winds of nearly 56 km per hour and should dissipate over the mountains of central eastern Mexico later on Saturday.
The Mexican government has ended all tropical storm warnings.
Katia emerged as a hurricane on Friday near Tecolutla, Mexico. As of early Saturday morning, Katia was about 185 km west northwest of the Gulf Coast port of Veracruz, the NHC said.
Officials in Veracruz said Katia could cause landslides and flooding, and urged people living below hills and slopes to be prepared to evacuate.
Luis Felipe Puente, head of Mexico’s national emergency services, said this week that Katia has “worrying characteristics” because it is very slow-moving and could dump a lot of rain on areas that have been saturated in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, Mexico is dealing with the aftermath of a powerful earthquake on Thursday night. The quake, the strongest to strike the country in more than 80 years, killed at least 61 people.
As Katia rapidly weakened, Hurricane Jose continued to gather strength far out in the Atlantic. It was nearing nearing Category 5 strength as it churned about 97 km east of the Northern Leeward Islands early on Saturday morning.
Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, walloped Cuba’s northern coast on Saturday as it headed for Florida.
Millions of Florida residents were ordered to evacuate after the storm killed 21 people in the eastern Caribbean and left catastrophic destruction in its wake.
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