MEXICO CITY — Hurricane Rick strengthened into an “extremely dangerous” Category 5 storm off Mexico’s Pacific coast Saturday, and forecasters said it could strike the Baja California Peninsula this week.
The storm had sustained winds of 180 mph late Saturday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported. That makes it the second-strongest Pacific hurricane on record, after Linda in 1997. But the Hurricane Center said the storm was likely to lose some of that punch before hitting land.
Forecasters said Rick was projected to stay well off the coast for several days before bending east over cooler waters and hitting the Baja California Peninsula, perhaps as a Category 2 hurricane, sometime Wednesday.
Authorities in the resort city of Acapulco closed the port to small craft after Rick kicked up heavy waves and gusts of wind.
Meteorologist Jessica Schauer told The Associated Press that warm waters fueled Rick’s rapid jump from Category 1 just two days ago.
“Right now it’s over very warm water, and the current forecast track keeps it over warm water for quite a while,” she said.
Rick was forecast to pass near Socorro Island, about 300 miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas, on Tuesday. The island is a nature reserve with a small Mexican Navy post and it hosts scuba-diving expeditions in winter months.
Acapulco’s Civil Protection Department had warned that rains from the outer bands of the storm could cause landslides and flooding in the city, but no such effects were reported Saturday.
