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PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Bud weakened to a Category 2 storm as it headed early Friday toward an area of beach resorts and small mountain villages on Mexico's Pacific coast stretching south from Puerto Vallarta.
Authorities
canceled school in 11 communities expected to be hit by heavy rains in
Jalisco state, and emergency workers were preparing emergency shelters.
A hurricane warning was up for Mexico's Pacific coast from Manzanillo northwestward to Cabo Corrientes. A hurricane watch and tropical storm warning were in effect from Punta San Telmo westward to east of Manzanillo.
Bud
had been a major Category 3 storm. But the hurricane's maximum
sustained winds decreased early Friday to near 110 mph (175 kph) early
Friday, making it a Category 2 storm on the five-level hurricane scale.
The storm was centered about 105 miles (170 kilometers) southwest of
Manzanillo and moving north-northeast near 8 mph (13 kph).
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami
said gradual weakening was expected but Bud was still forecast to reach
Mexico's coast as a hurricane. There were indications the storm might
make a U-turn after getting on shore and moving back out into the
Pacific.
The government of
Jalisco state prepared hundreds of cots and dozens of heavy vehicles
like bulldozers that could be needed to move debris.
Officials
in Puerto Vallarta said they were in close contact with managers of the
hundreds of hotels in the city in case tourists needed to move to eight
emergency shelters. It said the sea along the city's famous beachfront
was calm, but swimming had been temporarily banned as a precaution.
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