Tropical Storm Nate strengthens as hurricane warning issued for US Gulf Coast

Devastating hurricane season: Tropical Storm Nate was speeding toward the US Gulf Coast
AFP/Getty Images
Hatty Collier6 October 2017

A hurricane warning was issued for a stretch of the US Gulf Coast as Tropical Storm Nate gained force.

The storm was speeding towards Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Friday after drenching Central America in rain and killing at least 21 people.

Forecasters said it was likely to reach the US Gulf Coast as a Category 1 hurricane over the weekend.

Officials declared states of state of emergency in Louisiana and Mississippi and some people were ordered to leave coastal areas and barrier islands ahead of its expected landfall there on Saturday night or early Sunday.

Evacuations began at some offshore oil platforms in the Gulf.

A man rows on a boat in a flooded street in Minatitlan, south Veracruz, Mexico as Tropical Storm Nate heads to the Yucatan peninsula
EPA

Mississippi's government said it would open 11 evacuation shelters in areas away from the immediate coast, with buses available for people who can't drive.

The US National Hurricane Centre warned that Nate could raise sea levels by 4 to 7 feet (1.2 to 2.1 metres) from Morgan City, Louisiana, to the Alabama-Florida border. It had already had caused deadly flooding in much of Central America.

The storm had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph by Friday morning and was likely to strengthen over the northwestern Caribbean Sea on Friday before a possible strike on the Cancun region at the tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula at near-hurricane strength.

A view of a sinkhole on the street after the passage of tropical storm Nate in San Juan del Sur's bay in Rivas, 140kms west Managua, Nicaragua
EPA

It could hit the US Gulf coast near New Orleans.

In Nicaragua, Nate's arrival followed two weeks of near-constant rain that had left the ground saturated and rivers swollen. Authorities placed the whole country on alert and warned of flooding and landslides.

Nicaragua's vice president and spokeswoman, Rosario Murillo, said that at least 11 people had died in that country due to the storm. Earlier on Thursday she had said 15 people had died before later revising to say some of those were still counted as missing.

She did not give details on all the deaths, but said two women and a man who worked for the Health Ministry were swept away by a flooded canal in the central municipality of Juigalpa.

Tropical storm damage: a man rows on a boat in a flooded street in Minatitlan, south Veracruz, Mexico
EPA

Costa Rica's Judicial Investigation Organism blamed seven deaths in that country on the storm and said 15 people were missing. Flooding drove 5,000 residents into emergency shelters.

In Honduras, there were three dead and three missing, according to Oscar Triminio, spokesman for the country's firefighters.

Damage caused by the storm prompted Costa Rican officials to postpone a World Cup qualifying soccer match between that country and Honduras, which had been scheduled for Friday night.

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