Hurricane Katia weakens and becomes a tropical storm in Mexico.
Tropical Storm Katia weakened to a tropical depression on Saturday as it moved inland across Mexico, but could still bring heavy rains to areas that absorbed large amounts of precipitation and were shaken by a massive earthquake in recent days. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that, as a depression, Tropical Storm Katia was producing maximum sustained winds of nearly 56 kilometers per hour and was expected to dissipate over the mountains of east-central Mexico later on Saturday.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Katia weakened to a tropical depression on Saturday as it moved inland across Mexico, but it could still bring heavy rains to areas that absorbed large amounts of precipitation and were shaken by a massive earthquake in recent days.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that, as a depression, Tropical Storm Katia was producing maximum sustained winds of nearly 56 kilometers per hour and was expected to dissipate over the mountains of east-central Mexico later on Saturday.
Mexico is grappling with the aftermath of a massive earthquake that struck the country Thursday night, and President Enrique Peña Nieto said Friday that Tropical Storm Katia could be especially dangerous on the slopes hit by the magnitude 8,1 tremor.
The earthquake, the strongest to hit Mexico in more than 80 years, killed at least 61 people.
Mexico's national emergency services said this week that Tropical Storm Katia was a concern because it was moving very slowly and could dump heavy rain on areas that have already been saturated in recent weeks.