Barbara Hurricane, First Storm To Form In Pacific In 2013, Is Aimed At Mexico [VIDEO]

Mexico's National Hurricane Center said that tropical storm Barbara had become a Category 1 hurricane as it approached the Pacific coast of Mexico today. Five states are on alert: Chiapas, Oaxaca, Tabasco, Veracruz, and Guerrero. A red alert has been declared for the southeastern and eastern parts of the Oaxaca state and the southwestern and center-western area of Chiapas. It is scheduled to make landfall today.

According to Reuters, the U.S. National Hurricane Center was reporting maximum sustained winds of 65 miles per hour earlier today, as it churned northeast at about eight miles per hour. It is expected to pass over the Isthmus of Tehuantepec once it makes landfall. Between 4 and 12 inches of rain is expected over eastern Oaxaca through western Chiapas once Barbara reaches land, with tide levels surging between 3 and 5 feet above normal.

In Chiapas, some preventative evacuations were carried out, while in Oaxaca, classes were suspended. In the resort of Acapulco in Guerrero state, torrential rains caused severe flooding in the tourist area and some motor accidents because of slick roads.

Mexico's National Meteorological Center issued a statement saying that the center of the hurricane "could cross the southeastern states with a high probability that its remnants reach the south of the Gulf of Mexico afterward."

The AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center is projecting 15 tropical storms for this year, of which eight will become hurricanes in the eastern Pacific Basin. Most tropical systems forming along the west coast of Mexico and Central America in the Pacific drift out to sea and diminish without striking land, but an unusually high number of storms expected to form there and a shift in weather patterns over the western U.S. could bring more ashore than in recent years.