Hurricane Hits Mexican Coast, Loses Strength
MEXICO CITY — Hurricane Diana slammed into Mexico’s Gulf Coast on Tuesday, causing homelessness and flooding before losing strength as it whirled its way inland and was downgraded to a tropical storm.
The hurricane caused structural damage and flooding in some coastal areas, but government officials said there were no immediate reports of deaths or serious injuries.
More than 800 poverty-stricken families were made homeless after Diana ripped through their wood and cardboard structures in slums on the outskirts of the port city of Tampico in Vera Cruz state, the government news agency Notimex reported.
Diana hit the coast shortly after midday packing winds of about 90 m.p.h. that churned up 12-foot seas and shut down ports from Coatzacoalcos on the Bay of Campeche to Tampico in the northern part of the gulf, the National Weather Service reported.
By 7 p.m. local time (6 p.m. PDT), the Weather Service reported that winds had weakened to less than 60 m.p.h. and that Diana had been reduced to tropical storm status. The storm continued dumping heavy rain across a wide area of eastern and central Mexico.
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