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Hurricane Paula Bears Down on Mexico, CentAm Coasts
 Agence France-Presse
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October 12, 2010
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Miami – Hurricane Paula bore down Tuesday on the Gulf Coast of Mexico and Central America, a flood-hit region already saturated by torrential rains during an unusually active storm season.
At 8:00 am (1200 GMT) the category one hurricane was located 190 miles (310 kilometers) southeast of Cozumel, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center.
The NHC said Paula was moving northwest toward Mexico's Yucatan peninsula at 10 miles (17 km) per hour, and was expected to strengthen slightly over the next day or two.
A hurricane warning was in effect from Punta Gruesa to northernmost Cabo Catoche, near the tourist haven of Cancun. A tropical storm warning, meanwhile, was issued by Honduras from Limon to the Nicaraguan border.
Paula raised the troubling prospect of renewed flooding in already waterlogged Central America and Mexico, after weeks of devastation from recent heavy rains that sparked deadly mudslides.
The hurricane was expected to dump another three to six inches (7.5 to 15 centimeters) of rain on parts of Nicaragua and Honduras and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
"Isolated maximum amounts of 10 inches (25 centimeters) are possible. In areas of mountainous terrain these rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," the hurricane center said in a bulletin.
Flooding and landslides have killed more than 300 people in Central America, left tens of thousands homeless and caused billions of dollars in damage in recent months.
Mexico has also been hit hard by a series of storms in an unusually active hurricane season.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) earlier this year predicted an especially stormy 2010, with 14 to 23 named storms for this season, including eight to 14 hurricanes.
Paula makes the ninth hurricane so far this year.
On average, there are 11 named storms, six of which become hurricanes, in the six-month season which ends on November 30.
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