‘NIGHTMARE’

Hurricane Otis Makes Landfall in Mexico as ‘Catastrophic’ Category 5 Storm

Forecasters said Otis “explosively intensified” as it approached the coast.

Hurricane Otis made landfall in Mexico early Wednesday as a Category 5 storm, forecasters said, which could bring life-threatening winds, flooding, and mudslides. The National Hurricane Center said Otis’ maximum sustained winds hit 165 miles per hour as it came ashore near the city of Acapulco at around 12:25 a.m. local time. Hours earlier, the NHC warned that a “nightmare scenario is unfolding” as Otis “explosively intensified” during its approach to Mexico’s southern Pacific Coast. “This is an extremely serious situation for the Acapulco metropolitan area with the core of the destructive hurricane likely to come near or over that large city early on Wednesday,” an advisory warned. “There are no hurricanes on record even close to this intensity for this part of Mexico.” It said that forecasts showed Otis would arrive with winds which would cause “catastrophic damage,” as well as potentially lethal storm surge, flooding, and mudslides in areas of higher terrain.