A satellite image shows Hurricane Karl approaching the coast of Mexico while Hurricane Igor continues to rage to the east Hurricane Karl has gained more strength as it moves through the Gulf of Mexico, becoming a major hurricane pushing winds of almost 120mph (195km/h).
The Category Three storm is set to hit Mexico’s coast later on Friday, with the National Hurricane Center warning it could be yet more powerful by then.
Karl has already forced Mexico’s Pemex oil to halt production at 14 offshore wells and evacuate staff.
To the east Hurricane Igor has weakened slightly, but remains a major storm.
Igor, which is pushing sustained speeds of 125mph, is threatening to pass directly over Bermuda on Sunday, the US-based NHC has warned.
Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Bahamas are also likely to feel the effects of storm swells by early on Thursday, with the US East Coast affected by the weekend.
“These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” the NHC warned.
A third simultaneous hurricane, Hurricane Julia, which is towards the centre of the Atlantic Ocean, has weakened further, with sustained winds of 80mph.
Hurricane Karl is currently located about 70 miles (110km) east-northeast of the port city of Veracruz in Mexico and moving west at a speed of about 9mph.
Mexico’s Veracruz state has already suffered from major flooding in the recent weeks On Thursday, Karl made landfall as a tropical storm as it passed over the Yucatan Peninsula, dumping heavy rain and bringing down trees and power lines.
The storm is expected to make landfall again on Friday afternoon between Veracruz and Poza Rica, and the Mexican government has issued a hurricane warning for a 186-mile stretch of coast from Veracruz northwards.
The NHC has said that heavy rain from the hurricane brings the threat of “life-threatening flash flooding, especially in mountainous areas” and in coastal areas of a dangerous storm surge “which will raise water levels by as much as two to three metres above normal tide levels along the immediate coast near and to the north of where the centre makes landfall”.
The state of Veracruz has already experienced severe flooding in recent weeks, as Mexico’s rainy season continues.
Nine people in the state have been killed by the floods and the homes of an estimated 80,000 people have been damaged.
Nationwide, 25 people have died and about one million been affected by the floods.
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