Hurricane threatens Mexican resort

Hurricane Jova has strengthened to a major Category 3 hurricane as it marches toward Mexico’s Pacific coast, threatening the idyllic beach resort of Barra de Navidad and one of the nation’s biggest cargo ports.

Jova’s maximum sustained winds built to near 125mph by Monday morning, and the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said it could reach Category 4 with winds of greater than 130mph on Tuesday before hitting land.

The forecast track would carry its centre near Barra de Navidad, south of the larger resort of Puerto Vallarta, late on Tuesday.

Hotels in the hurricane’s path are already taking precautions. Almost all the guests at the 199-room Grand Bay Hotel on Isla Navidad, just off the coast, were scheduled to check out today.

Hotel employees were taping up windows, cleaning out water channels to avoid flooding and were planning to pull in all beach furniture later today as Jova gets closer.

The hotel’s 90 employees are planning to take shelter in an interior ballroom if they need to.

The Mexican government declared a hurricane warning for a 100-mile stretch of coast form just south of Puerto Vallarta to a point south of Manzanillo, one of Mexico’s chief cargo ports. A tropical storm warning was in effect further south, to the port of Lazaro Cardenas.

Authorities closed the port of Manzanillo, the country’s second largest non-oil cargo port, to all navigation as a safety measure, the port captain’s office announced.

Jova was located about 220 miles south west of Manzanillo and was moving east-northeast at about 6mph.

The mountainous terrain inland usually weakens hurricanes like Jova fairly quickly once they hit land, but “maybe coastal flooding will be an issue”, said National Hurricane Centre forecaster Felix Garcia.

“The rainfall will be absolutely torrential,” Mr Garcia said.