TULUM, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Grace — temporarily knocked back to tropical storm force — headed Friday for a second landfall in Mexico, this time taking aim at the Gulf coast after crashing through the country’s main tourist strip.
The storm lost punch as it zipped across the Yucatan Peninsula, but it emerged late Thursday over the relatively warm Gulf of Mexico and was gaining energy.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Grace had maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (150 kph) late Friday afternoon. It was centered about 115 miles (185 kilometers) northeast of the port of Veracruz and was heading west at 10 mph (17 kph).
Grace was slowing over the warm waters of Bay of Campeche, leading forecasters to warn that the storm will get stronger before making landfall. Mexico’s weather service had warned earlier in the week that Grace could make the second landfall as a Category 2 hurricane.
The forecast track would take it toward a coastal region of small fishing towns and beach resorts in the state of Veracruz, then over a mountain range toward the heart of the country and the greater Mexico City . . .
