Hurricane Pamela strengthens off Mexico’s Pacific coast

Pamela forecast to get to ‘near major hurricane strength’ when it reaches Mexican coast early Wednesday, NHC says.

Hurricane Pamela is gathering strength as it barrels towards Mexico’s western coast, with the US-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) predicting it will strengthen further before dumping heavy rain on the fertile farm state of Sinaloa.

The Category 1 hurricane was located about 450km (280 miles) south of the major Sinaloa beach resort of Mazatlan and was forecast to turn northward before making landfall at potentially Category 3 strength, the NHC said on Tuesday morning.

Pamela was packing maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometres per hour (80 mph) and was already causing rain along parts of Mexico’s Pacific coast.