Hurricane Trudy weakens to tropical storm off Mexico's Pacific coast

Six dead as floods hit Greek islands and Istanbul

Hurricane Trudy weakened to a tropical storm by Monday morning after the category 2 storm menaced Mexico’s Pacific coast, and separate storms brought deadly flooding to Greece and Turkey last week.

The US National Hurricane Center had placed coastal parts of the states of Jalisco, Michoacán and Colima under hurricane warnings, with sustained winds of up to 60 to 90 mph forecast on Sunday. The storm remained roughly 100 miles (160km) southwest of the coast, keeping the worst of the conditions offshore.

The warnings covered rainfall totals of 100-150mm, with flooding and landslides possible, and the risk of a dangerous storm surge accompanied by damaging waves in areas of onshore winds across the coast of southwestern Mexico. By Monday morning, Trudy had weakened and been downgraded to a tropical storm, and coastal warnings were lifted.

Photographs from Acapulco showed fishing boats pulled from the sea and left on the sand in preparation for the storm’s passage.

Trudy was the 22nd and latest named system of the Pacific hurricane season, which has seen ongoing activity in contrast to the quiet Atlantic hurricane season.

In Greece, heavy rain and thunderstorms caused severe flooding and one fatality across Rhodes, Evia and the Sporades islands last week. According to the National Observatory of Athens, a station in Rhodes recorded 202mm between 3.30am and 9.50am (UTC) on 14 October.

Regional authorities reported more than 30 rescue and extrication operations in response to the flooding. The Greek coastguard said four passenger vehicles were swept into the sea during the storm, and on Skiathos, flood waters swept away two cars.

Five deaths were reported due to severe flooding in Istanbul, Turkey, last week. Heavy rain on 14 and 15 October prompted school closures, flight delays, disruptive flooding and landslides across several provinces.

According to the Istanbul metropolitan municipality, 242mm of rain was recorded in Beykoz, a district of Istanbul province. Nearly 600 people were rescued after becoming stranded, and at least 2,700 people were forced to evacuate their homes.

The Turkish state meteorological service issued further alerts for heavy rain and thunderstorms over the weekend across dozens of provinces, with at least an additional 40-60mm forecast for parts of the Marmara and western Black Sea regions.