Hurricane Otis intensifies to category 5 storm

The United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced that Hurricane Otis has intensified from Category 4 to 5 storm, which indicates “catastrophic damage likely where the core of the Hurricane moves onshore,” as it is close to making landfall overnight or early on Wednesday in southern Mexico.

Otis grew abruptly and in less than 12 hours went through categories 1, 2, 3 and 4. Different warnings were raised for Punta Maldonado, Zihuatanejo and Lagunas de Chacahua by the entity alerting on “flash and urban flooding” and “large and destructive waves.”