MIAMI — The Latest on tropical weather (all times local):
2 p.m.
Tropical Storm Lorena is lashing parts of southern Mexico with torrential rains as it drives closer to the coast and nears hurricane force.
Lorena is expected to brush or hit land by early Thursday somewhere between the port of Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta on Mexico’s southwestern Pacific coast.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Lorena had winds of 70 mph (110 kph) and was moving northwest at 13 mph (20 kph) early Wednesday afternoon.
It was located about 100 miles (160 kilometres) south-southeast of Manzanillo.
By week’s end, Lorena is projected to come close to the the Baja California peninsula’s southern tip.
Any rightward movement of the storm’s track could bring it ashore, possibly twice.
Mexican officials also say they’re concerned that some parts of southern Mexico, which have seen a lack of rainfall, could now get torrential rains and floods from a combination of Lorena and two other weather systems in the area.
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12:05 a.m.
People on Bermuda rushed to make final preparations for an expected close brush with Hurricane Humberto, a powerful Category 3 storm that caused authorities on the British Atlantic island to order early closings of schools, transportation and government offices Wednesday.
National Security Minister Wayne Caines said schools, government offices and ferries on the island would close at noon and bus service would halt at 4 p.m.
Officials expected tropical storm-force winds to begin whipping at Bermuda before dawn and warned that hurricane-force gusts would probably last until early Thursday. Humberto was predicted to pass just to the north, though a small shift in its path could bring the storm over the island itself.
The Associated Press
