Hurricane Trudy Strengthens to Category 2 as It Heads Toward Mexico

Hurricane Trudy grew stronger on Saturday as it moved toward the Pacific coast of Mexico. The US National Hurricane Center said Trudy became a Category 2 hurricane, with top winds of 100 miles per hour. The storm was getting close to Mexico's coast and was expected to bring heavy rain and dangerous flooding through the weekend.

A hurricane warning was issued for the stretch of coast between Manzanillo, in Colima state, and Cabo Corrientes, in Jalisco state. Trudy was about 205 miles south-southeast of Cabo Corrientes and moving northwest at 10 miles per hour. Forecasters expected the center of the storm to come very close to the Mexican coast on Saturday and linger into Sunday.

Mexico's government also issued a tropical storm warning for Las Islas Marias, a group of small islands off the coast. At the same time, officials removed a similar warning for the coast south of Lazaro Cardenas. The Mexican navy told sailors and people living near the shore to be very careful because of high waves, heavy rain, and the chance of rivers rising, flooding, and landslides in low-lying areas.

Officials in Colima state said the overall risk was still low, but they warned that heavy rain could cause serious damage. The ground was already soaked from several storms that had already hit the Pacific coast. Trudy was expected to drop 4 to 8 inches of rain across the region through the weekend, with some spots possibly seeing as much as 15 inches.

While Mexico braced for Trudy, a separate storm called Typhoon Champi was also growing stronger far away in the Pacific Ocean. Champi strengthened into a powerful Category 4 typhoon and was moving west toward the island of Guam at 15 miles per hour. By Saturday night, Champi was only about 25 miles southeast of Guam, with sustained winds of 140 miles per hour.

Forecasters said Champi was likely to pass south of Guam early Sunday and keep getting stronger during the day. Both Guam and the nearby island of Rota were under a typhoon warning. The islands of Tinian and Saipan were under a tropical storm warning and a typhoon watch, meaning residents there also needed to stay alert.

The leaders of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands asked for emergency disaster declarations from the federal government on Friday. If President Donald Trump approved the requests, the islands would receive federal money and support to help protect people. Airports, harbors, and some health facilities across the islands had already been closed ahead of the storm.

Emergency officials warned that it could take three to five days before help and supplies reached the islands. That was especially worrying because the islands were still recovering from two other powerful storms — Super Typhoons Sinlaku and Bavi — which hit in April and July of the same year. Residents were facing another major storm before they had fully bounced back from the last ones.