Tropical Storm Otis forecast to strengthen to hurricane before landfall near Mexico’s Acapulco

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Tropical Storm Otis continues strengthening as it approaches Mexico’s southern Pacific coast and is forecast to become a hurricane before making landfall near the resort of Acapulco late Tuesday or early Wednesday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says that Otis was about 175 miles (280 kilometers) south-southeast of Acapulco on Tuesday morning with winds of 65 mph (100 kmh). It was moving north-northwest at 8 mph (13 kmh). There was a hurricane warning in effect from Lagunas de Chachua to Zihuatenejo. Otis was expected to dump five to 10 inches of rain on the southern state of Guerrero with as much as 15 inches possible in some areas. That raised the possibility of mudslides in Guerrero’s steep mountainous terrain.