[Al Jazeera] A "potentially catastrophic" Category-5 hurricane is moving quickly through the Pacific Ocean and is predicted to pound western Mexico's shores on Tuesday, according to the US-based National Hurricane Center (NHC).Although Hurricane Willa is expected to lose force by the time it makes landfall, NHC said it will likely remain a major storm of Category-3 intensity and could produce "life-threatening flash flooding and landslides over much of southwestern and west-central Mexico".
The hurricane is expected to pass over or near the Islas Marias - a set of islands about 96km offshore that includes a nature preserve and a federal prison - early on Tuesday, then blow ashore in the afternoon or the evening between the resort town of Mazatlan and San Blas, a distance of about 220km.
The governments of Sinaloa and Nayarit states ordered coastal region schools to close and have begun preparing emergency shelters.
