Rain and strong waves hit the beach as hurricane Andres arrives in the Pacific resort city of Manzanillo, Mexico, 23 Jun 2009Andres has been downgraded to a tropical storm after sweeping across the western Mexican coast Tuesday.

Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center say the storm has maximum sustained winds of 110 kilometers an hour, and is expected to weaken further during the next 24 hours.

The hurricane center says Andres will dump as much as 20 centimeters of rain over parts of west-central Mexico, and could produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.

Andres hit Mexico's Pacific coast as a Category One hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers an hour. The storm flooded streets in several cities, and dozens of shelters were prepared in the event of an evacuation. Authorities in the state of Guerrero says a fisherman drowned near the coastal town of Tecpan de Galeana.

Andres is the first named storm of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season.


Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.