Roslyn Moves Inland and Breaks Up After Lashing Mexican Coast

Hurricane Roslyn brought damaging winds and storm surge to west-central Mexico on Sunday and killed at least three people before being downgraded to a tropical storm and breaking up inland, officials said.

The storm dissipated Sunday night over east-central Mexico after bringing heavy rains and flash flooding, the National Hurricane Center said.

There were reports of damage in the state of Nayarit, where the storm made landfall early Sunday. Nearly 100,000 people had lost power across the country, and residents of some affected communities faced road blockages from fallen trees or mud, as the authorities worked to make necessary repairs and survey any further damages.

Jorge Benito Rodríguez Martínez, secretary of security in Nayarit, confirmed the death of a 39-year-old woman, Ana Pimentel Moreno, from the Rosamorada municipality. She was killed when her house collapsed.

He added that people trapped in homes had been rescued.

In the municipalities of San Blas and Santiago Ixcuintla, which faced some of the worst effects, some 90 percent of residents were displaced in shelters or staying with relatives in higher areas, he said.

The mayor of Santiago Ixcuintla, Eduardo Lugo, confirmed the death of another person, identified as Gilberto Hernández Rodríguez, a resident of the island of Mexcaltitán. He was 80 years old. A wall in his home had collapsed.

And in Bahía de Banderas, Mauro Adán Ochoa Manzo, a road police officer, died of cardiac arrest while carrying out cleaning tasks on a section of Highway 200, the state’s government said.

Local officials reported that in the town of Sayulita, in Bahía de Banderas, a bay on the coast of Nayarit, a 35-year-old woman and an 85-year-old woman with mobility problems were rescued and taken to a temporary shelter after the rising river had trapped them. In northern Nayarit, the mayor of Acaponeta, Manuel Salcedo Osuna, reported extensive damage to houses and utility poles and fallen trees and other debris. He pleaded with residents on his Facebook page to go to a shelter if their houses were unstable in any way.

Mexico’s federal electricity commission said that some 99,580 people were without electricity as of Sunday afternoon.

Roslyn dropped to a Category 3 hurricane, from a Category 4 before it made landfall, and it weakened into a tropical storm as it moved farther inland, according to the National Hurricane Center. As of 11 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, the remnants of the storm were about 50 miles west to northwest of the city of Monterrey, Mexico, moving northeast at a speed of about 22 miles per hour. Maximum sustained winds dropped to 30 m.p.h., the agency said.

Tropical storm conditions were felt through parts of west-central Mexico throughout Sunday, but no coastal watches or warnings remained in effect by 11 p.m. An additional one to two inches of rain was expected along coastal, northeastern and west-central parts of Mexico.

The governor of the state of Jalisco, Enrique Alfaro, said on Twitter on Sunday that schools would reopen and hold classes and activities on Monday. Puerto Vallarta’s airport resumed operations, he added, but beaches would remain closed.

In southern Durango, Sinaloa, Jalisco, Nayarit and Zacatecas, rainfall of one to three inches was expected, with a maximum rainfall total of 10 inches.

Landslides could be caused by the rain in areas with rugged terrain, forecasters warned. Water levels, which rose from the storm surge, were expected to subside Sunday afternoon, forecasters said. Swells generated by Roslyn were likely to affect southwestern Mexico, west-central Mexico and the southern part of the Baja California peninsula. Those swells were likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip-current conditions.

The links between hurricanes and climate change have become clearer with each passing year. Data shows that hurricanes have become stronger worldwide during the past four decades. A warming planet can expect stronger hurricanes over time and a higher incidence of the most powerful storms, though the overall number of storms could drop because factors like stronger wind shear could keep weaker storms from forming.

Hurricanes are also becoming wetter because of more water vapor in the warmer atmosphere. Scientists have suggested that storms like Hurricane Harvey in 2017 produced far more rain than they would have without the human effects on climate. Also, rising sea levels are contributing to higher storm surge, the most destructive element of tropical cyclones.

Karina Cancino contributed reporting from Tepic, Nayarit. Héctor Castro contributed from Mazatlán. Melina Delkic, Vimal Patel, Víctor Manuel Ramos and April Rubin contributed reporting from New York.