Mexico faces dangerous storms from gulf, Pacific

VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico -- Mexico rushed relief supplies to the coast and put thousands of relief personnel on alert Saturday as Tropical Storm Larry churned toward land, Nora became a hurricane in the Pacific and Tropical Storm Olaf gathered force south of Acapulco.

With Mexico facing three storms hitting in the coming days, Larry posed the greatest danger. Mexico extended tropical storm warnings and a hurricane watch for the Gulf coast from Tuxpan to Campeche as residents braced for high tides, punishing rains and heavy floods.

Larry's center was slowly moving toward the coast Saturday and was forecast to make landfall today. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said that tropical-storm force winds could begin lashing the coast late Saturday.

Authorities in Veracruz state -- where the storm was expected to make landfall near the industrial city of Coatzacoalcos -- set up shelters and weighed the possible evacuation of thousands of people in the storm's path.

Television footage showed waves already lapping around buildings at one Veracruz beach.

In the Yucatan peninsula state of Campeche, a major oil-producing area, driving rain was already reported and three major ports were closed to ship traffic.

In neighboring Tabasco state, officials reported scattered evacuations because of floods covering more than 7,400 acres of banana plantations.

Three major ports along the coast were closed and Tabasco state authorities warned that 4,000 people may need to be evacuated if the storm stikes here.

"If it gets any worse, I'll have to go," said Santana Cordoba, 47, of Isla Paraiso, from inside a fragile house with a palm-leaf roof. "It already broke through the jetty and there's no need to risk it because it's going to hit hard."

Larry was located 25 miles north off the coast of Tabasco on Saturday night and moving south at 3 mph.

Maximum sustained winds were near 60 mph with higher gusts, and tropical storm-force winds extended up to 85 miles from the center.

Above-normal tides accompanied by "large and dangerous battering waves" were expected, along with flooding at all points where winds blow onshore, the hurricane center said in its storm advisory.

Hurricane Nora, meanwhile, was becoming more defined Saturday, with winds clocked at 105 mph.

Nora was located more than 400 miles south-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. It was expected to move slowly northward over cooler waters and weaken by early next week.

Tropical Storm Olaf, which developed Friday, whipped up winds of 60 mph on Saturday and was centered 185 miles off the Pacific coast resort of Acapulco.

The storm was creeping north-northwest at about 8 mph on a track that could take it closer to the coast and to the west, within about 120 miles of land, early next week.

Forecasters predicted Olaf would strengthen to hurricane strength by Monday.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Kate swirled in the Atlantic far away from land, about 695 miles southeast of Bermuda, packing maximum sustained winds of 115 mph, making it a major Category 3 storm. Kate was forecast to weaken significantly before hitting Newfoundland in eastern Canada sometime Tuesday.