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By Pandora Dewan
Senior Science Reporter
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Hurricane Otis made landfall as a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane early on Wednesday morning, smashing into Mexico's southern Pacific coast.
The hurricane has strengthened rapidly, growing from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in just 12 hours on Tuesday afternoon, with experts saying that this is "one of the fastest-intensifying hurricanes in world history."
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"This is pretty much a worst-case scenario, as residents have little time to find a safe shelter and protect life and property from this life-threatening storm," weather analyst Colin McCarthy said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The hurricane has brought maximum sustained winds of 165 miles per hour to Acapulco and its surrounding towns and is expected to create "potentially catastrophic" storm surges and "life-threatening" coastal flooding along Mexico's southwestern coast, the national hurricane center warned, describing the situation as a "nightmare" scenario.
Otis will move northwards throughout the day and is expected to be demoted to a tropical storm later this evening, according to the center's hurricane tracker. It is currently moving at a speed of 10 mph towards the north-northwest.
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The hurricane is expected to stay within the Guerrero state, although hazardous conditions might also occur outside of this region. Hurricane warnings have been issued along the state's coast, with a tropical storm warning extending into neighboring Oaxaca.
Guerrero is one of Mexico's most impoverished and violent states, meaning that hurricanes like Otis have the potential to be even more devastating.
Acapulco, where Otis made landfall, has a population of more than 1 million and a history of catastrophic hurricanes.
"We're on maximum alert," the city's mayor, Abelina López, said on Tuesday night as she urged residents to hunker down at home or move to the city's shelters. She added Otis could be more devastating than Hurricane Pauline, which destroyed large areas of the city and killed more than 200 people in 1997.
More than 8,000 troops have been deployed to Acapulco with specialized equipment to aid in rescues.
Heavy rains will continue to impact southwestern Mexico for the rest of this week, producing flash and urban flooding and potentially mudslides in areas of higher terrain.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Tammy is strengthening over the open waters of the Atlantic about 570 miles southeast of Bermuda. It is forecast to become a powerful extratropical cyclone by Thursday.
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