Storm Katia rapidly weakened on Saturday after it made landfall near the working-class beach resort of Tecolutla in the state of Veracruz on the Mexican Gulf coast, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Katia was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm as it was about 110 miles (175 km) northwest of Veracruz, Mexico with sustained winds of 45 mph (70 kmh), the center said in an advisory. Veracruz state officials said in a statement on Friday that the storm could cause landslides and flooding, and urged people living below hills and slopes to be prepared to evacuate. Luis Felipe Puente, head of Mexico’s national emergency services, said this week that Katia has “worrying characteristics” because it is very slow-moving and could dump a lot of rain on areas that have been saturated in recent weeks. State oil and gas company Pemex has installations in and around the coast of Veracruz, but the firm has not reported any disruption to its operations. Mexico is also dealing with the aftermath of a powerful earthquake on Thursday night. The quake, the strongest to strike the country in more than 80 years, killed at least 61 people. Published in Daily Times, September 10th 2017.