Season's first tropical storm heads to Mexico's Pacific coast

Season's first tropical storm heads to Mexico's Pacific coast Mexico City - Mexican authorities issued an alert Monday for towns near the country's southern Pacific coast as Andres, the first tropical storm of the season, starts to form.

The alert ranged from the port of Zihuatanejo, in the state of Guerrero, to Manzanillo in the state of Colima.

According to Mexico's National Meteorological Service, the storm has maximum sustained winds of 85 kilometres per hour with gusts of up to 100 kilometres per hour, although it might get more intense in the coming hours. Early Monday, Andres was 275 kilometres south of Zihuatanejo and 230 kilometres south-west of the resort city of Acapulco, both in Guerrero.

The storm was moving west-northwest at 6 kilometres per hour.

The Miami-based US National Hurricane Centre warned Monday that Andres could become a hurricane within the coming hours.(dpa)