Hurricane Orlene Weakens Into A Tropical Depression After Making Landfall In Mexico

Hurricane Orlene that hit southwestern Mexico weakened to a tropical depression Monday afternoon. The National Hurricane Center said tropical depression Orlene had intensified to a Category 4 hurricane and hit southwestern Mexico, north of the Nayarit and Sinaloa border as a Category 1 around 7:45 a.m. local time with winds at around 85 mph.

Ultimately, Orlene brought heavy rain and caused severe flooding and mudslides in popular resort areas along the country's west coast. At around 4 p.m. ET, the storm had weakened and now carries winds of 35 mph while moving north-northeast at 9 mph.

States in Mexico braced for Orlene’s arrival as the streets of Mazatlán, a touristy port city where half a million reside were largely deserted early Monday as Orlene began punishing the coast with heavy wind gusts. Schools closed and the city’s airport suspended eight flights. As of midday, the tide rose as wind and rain intensified. Orlene left the southern region of Sinaloa state without power.

According to a public advisory, at 1000 PM CDT (0300 UTC), the remnants of Orlene were sighted near latitude 24.0 North, longitude 105.0 West. Maximum sustained winds were near 25 mph (35 km/h) with higher gusts. The remnants are anticipated to dissipate overnight while the estimated minimum central pressure was 1008 (29.77 inches).

The NHC alerted everyone of the heavy rainfall from Orlene which could lead to flash floods and landslides. It also said that Nayarit and Sinaloa may see three to six inches (7-15 cm) of rain with isolated places receiving up to 10 inches, while the southwest of the state of Durango could see one to three inches with local amounts of five inches, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, according to CNN, there are no coastal alerts or warnings in effect for the area as the center of the storm is expected to move further inland over west-central Mexico.

A disturbance in the Pacific some 500 miles off the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula intensified into Tropical Storm Paine, the NHC said. It is expected to slowly move westward throughout the week.

The governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya, was traveling to the area on Monday afternoon with the members of the Mexican army and the Civil Protection force to assess the damages caused by Orlene.