Tropical storm Barbara bears down on Mexico’s Oaxaca coastline The storm is forecast to strengthen before reaching Mexico’s coast on Thursday, as per the US hurricane center Bloomberg First Published: Wed, May 29 2013. 09 56 AM IST

Tropical storm Barbara bears down on Mexico’s Oaxaca coastline

The storm is forecast to strengthen before reaching Mexico’s coast on Thursday, as per the US hurricane center

Bloomberg 

     

First Published: Wed, May 29 2013. 09 56 AM IST

Barbara, with top winds of 64km per hour, was stationary about 145 miles south-southwest of Salina Cruz, Mexico, the hurricane centre said in an advisory before 8pm in New York. Photo: Getty Images/AFP

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Updated: Wed, May 29 2013. 09 58 AM IST

Boston: Tropical Storm Barbara formed in the eastern Pacific Ocean and was bearing down on the Mexican state of Oaxaca, where Petroleos Mexicanos operates the country’s largest oil refinery.

A tropical storm warning is in place on Mexico’s Pacific coast from Lagunas de Chacuhua to Boca de Pijijiapan, according to the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami. Barbara, with top winds of 64km per hour, was stationary about 145 miles south-southwest of Salina Cruz, Mexico, the hurricane centre said in an advisory before 8pm in New York.

The system was forecast to turn north-northeastward to reach Mexico’s coast within the warning area by early Thursday, making outside preparations difficult or dangerous, the centre’s advisory shows.

Mexico City-based Pemex, Latin America’s largest oil producer, operates a refinery in Salina Cruz that suffered flooding in 2011 when two tropical storms hit the area. As much as three to six inches (8 to 15 centimeters) of rain may fall across the region with some areas receiving as much as 10 inches, according to the hurricane center.

The system is forecast to strengthen before reaching the coast on Thursday, according to the hurricane center’s advisory.

While the storm became better organized during the day, it doesn’t have that much time to grow much more powerful because it is so close to land, said Tom Kines, a meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania.

The mountains that will tear at the structure of the storm also pose a danger to residents in the area because of the threat from mudslides, Kines said.

     

First Published: Wed, May 29 2013. 09 56 AM IST