Hurricane Carlotta hits Mexico

Hurricane Carlotta slammed into Mexico's resort-studded Pacific coast on Saturday morning, toppling trees and lashing hotels while authorities evacuated people from low-lying areas. The rapidly changing hurricane made landfall as a Category 1 storm near Puerto Escondido, a laid-back port popular with surfers, and is expected to push inland and northward in the direction of Acapulco. Eyewitnesses said that the wind was incredible and was tearing down the skinnier palm trees. Oaxaca's civil protection service said some roads near the resorts of Huatulco and Pochutla were affected by mudslides, and that authorities had opened emergency shelters and evacuated dozens of families from low-lying areas. Rain was also falling in Acapulco in neighboring Guerrero state, but authorities lifted the hurricane warning for the famed Pacific resort late Friday night and lowered it to a tropical storm warning. Carlotta had strengthened into a powerful Category 2 hurricane earlier Friday and forecasters had expected it to move northward, parallel to the coastline, possibly reaching Acapulco as a hurricane. But instead it moved inland and weakened. Forecasters now expect Carlotta to become a tropical storm on Saturday and a tropical depression on Sunday. By late Friday night, Carlotta's winds had lessened to 90 mph (150 kph), according to the US National Hurricane Center in Miami. The center of the storm was about 10 miles (15 kms) northwest of Puerto Escondido and was moving to the northwest at about 10 mph (17 kph). The part of Oaxaca state and neighboring Guerrero state that the storm will pass over is full of mountainous terrain that can experience flash floods under heavy rainfalls. Cynthia Tovar, a spokeswoman for the Oaxaca state civil defense office, said authorities had begun cancelled classes in coastal towns. Authorities were telling people in high-risk areas to head to the shelters, which can hold an estimated 4,500 people.