ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — The remnants of Tropical Storm Manuel
continued to deluge Mexico's southwestern Pacific shoulder with
dangerous rains while Hurricane Ingrid headed for a Monday landfall on
the country's opposite coast in an unusual double onslaught that federal
authorities said had caused at least 21 deaths.
The heaviest blow
Sunday fell on the southern coastal state of Guerrero, where Mexico's
government reported 14 confirmed deaths. State officials said people had
been killed in landslides, drownings in a swollen river and a truck
crash on a rain-slickened mountain highway.
Mexico's federal Civil
Protection coordinator, Luis Felipe Puente, told reporters late Sunday
that stormy weather from one or both of the two systems also caused
three deaths in Hidalgo, three in Puebla and one in Oaxaca.
Getting
hit by a tropical storm and a hurricane at the same time "is completely
atypical" for Mexico, Juan Manuel Caballero, coordinator of the
country's National Weather Service, said at a news conference with
Puente.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Ingrid, the second
hurricane of the Atlantic storm season, could reach the mainland by
Monday morning, most likely along the lightly populated coast north of
the port of Tampico.
Authorities
in the Gulf states of Tamaulipas and Veracruz evacuated more than 7,000
people from low-lying areas as the hurricane closed in, and the
prospect of severe weather prompted some communities to cancel
Independence Day celebrations planned for Sunday and Monday.
Manuel
came ashore as a tropical storm Sunday afternoon near the Pacific port
of Manzanillo, but quickly began losing strength and was downgraded to a
tropical depression late Sunday, although officials warned its rains
could still cause flash floods and mudslides. The U.S. National
Hurricane Center predicted the system would dissipate Monday.
The
rains caused some rivers to overflow in Guerrero, damaging hundreds of
homes and disrupting communications for several hours.
Late
Sunday, Manuel had maximum sustained winds of about 35 mph (55 kph) and
was moving to the northwest at 8 mph (13 kph) late Sunday. It was about
70 miles (110 kilometers) northwest of Manzanillo.
Manuel was
expected to dump up to 10 to 15 inches of rain over parts of Guerrero
and Michoacan states, with maximums of 25 inches possible in some
isolated areas. Rains of 5 to 10 inches were possible in the states of
Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit. Authorities said the rains presented a
dangerous threat in mountains, where flash floods and mudslides were
possible.
Ingrid
also was expected to bring very heavy rains. It had maximum sustained
winds of 75 mph (120 kph) late Sunday and was centered about 110 miles
(175 kilometers) northeast of the port city of Tampico as it moved
west-northwest at 6 mph (9 kph). A hurricane warning was in effect from
Cabo Rojo to La Pesca.
More than 1,000 homes in Veracruz state had
been affected by the storm to varying degrees, and 20 highways and 12
bridges had damage, the state's civil protection authority said. A
bridge collapsed near the northern Veracruz city of Misantla on Friday,
cutting off the area from the state capital, Xalapa.
A week ago,
13 people died in the state when a landslide buried their homes in heavy
rains spawned by Tropical Depression Fernand.