Hurricane Pamela made landfall in Sinaloa as a Category 1 hurricane early Wednesday, bringing strong wind and torrential rain to that state and Durango.
Pamela reached land at approximately 6:00 a.m. near Estación Dimas, a town in the municipality of San Ignacio, which borders Mazatlán to the north. There have been no reports of injuries or loss of life, and damage to property was mainly limited to flooding.
The storm, which has since been degraded to a tropical depression, was about 415 kilometers northeast of Mazatlán at 4:00 p.m. CDT, according to the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC).
“The depression is moving toward the northeast near 28 mph (44 kph) and this motion is expected to continue through tonight. On the forecast track, the center of Pamela will continue to move over central Mexico until dissipation,” the NHC said.
“… Pamela is expected to produce an additional 1 to 3 inches [2.5-7.5 cm] of rain across the Mexican states of Durango and Nayarit through tonight.”
The storm brought sustained winds of 120 kph with gusts of up to 150 as it crossed Sinaloa and moved into Durango. Large swells were also reported on the coast of Sinaloa and Nayarit.
Heavy rain caused rivers and creeks to overflow in parts of the former state, including in Escuinapa, Sinaloa’s southernmost municipality on its border with Nayarit. Flooding affected the communities of La Campana and La Concha, where water inundated people’s homes and forced some families to evacuate to higher ground.
The rain also caused landslides that forced the closure of the Mazatlán-Durango tollway and the libre, or free highway, between the same two cities.
The Federal Electricity Commission reported that more than 120,000 customers lost power in Sinaloa and Nayarit in the wake of Pamela’s passing, the vast majority of whom live in the former state. Power was restored to most residents of Nayarit by the early afternoon but many in Sinaloa were still waiting for service to resume.
Authorities in Mazatlán reported only minor damage, among which was the inundation of homes caused by flash flooding in some neighborhoods.
Pamela was the 16th named storm in the eastern Pacific this year and the sixth hurricane. The Pacific hurricane season still has seven weeks to run before it officially ends on November 30.
