HispanicBusiness

Floods caused by Ernesto, the former hurricane that remains a powerful tropical storm, killed two people in the south-eastern Mexican state of Tabasco, authorities said Thursday.

Ernesto made landfall in the state of Veracruz, on the Mexican mainland, Thursday, after crossing the Yucatan Peninsula and the Bay of Campeche.

The storm was located 10 kilometres north of Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, with sustained winds of up to 95 kilometres per hour with higher gusts, according to the Miami-based US National Hurricane Center (NHC). It was moving west at 7 kilometres per hour.

Torrential rains and flooding were anticipated, the NHC said, although the storm was expected to weaken further as it continued to move over land.

Ernesto made its initial landfall as a hurricane on the southern Yucatan Peninsula late Tuesday.