Tropical storm Stan strengthens to a hurricane

Tropical Storm Stan strengthened to a hurricane today and barrelled toward Mexico’s Gulf coast, threatening a major port and forcing the evacuation of several oil platforms.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Centre said the storm was expected to hit land later today, and a hurricane warning was issued for part of the Gulf coastline, from Palma Sola south-east to Chilitepec.

Veracruz’s busy port was closed, schools cancelled classes and officials at a nearby nuclear power plant prepared the facility for the category one hurricane’s strong winds and rains.

Thousands of residents abandoned their homes and stayed in dozens of shelters set up all along the coastline.

It was unclear how the oil platform evacuations would affect production at Pemex, the world’s third-biggest oil producer and a major supplier to the United States. The company pumps about 3.4 million barrels a day of crude, just over half of which it exports.

The storm was located 165 miles south-east of Veracruz early today, and was moving toward the south-west at 10 mph. It had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph.

Forecasters said the storm could dump up to 10 inches of rain in some areas, and warned residents that flooding and landslides were possible.

It raced across the Yucatan peninsula on Sunday, buffeting the region with and rain. No major damage was reported.