Mexico City – A former tropical storm regained strength Sunday and lashed southwestern Mexico with heavy rains, forecasters said.
The weather system, which had been named Tropical Storm Norman before disintegrating last week, strengthened back to a tropical depression Sunday, with maximum sustained winds near 35 mph.
The government had issued a tropical storm warning Sunday for a swath of the Pacific Coast from the port city of Lazaro Cardenas to Cabo Corrientes, but discontinued it about 12 hours later.
The storm was centered about 30 miles west of the resort town of Manzanillo late Sunday afternoon. It had been speeding toward Mexico’s coast earlier, but slowed down rapidly before becoming stationary and starting to dissipate again.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the depression could drop 6 to 12 inches of rain over some areas, with isolated accumulations of 15 inches, threatening flash floods and mudslides.
Mexico was hit by two hurricanes last month. Hurricane John battered a remote section of Baja California, killing five people and destroying 160 homes, while Hurricane Lane struck the resort town of Mazatlan, causing relatively minor damage.
