Strengthening Karl takes aim at Mexican Gulf coast
By MIGUEL ANGEL HERNANDEZ Sept. 17, 2010, 7:38AM
VERACRUZ, Mexico — Hurricane Karl
grew with surprising speed into a powerful Category 3 storm Friday, prompting closure of Gulf of Mexico oil facilities, and forecasters said the storm could strengthen further before hitting near the country's largest power plant.
Karl's maximum sustained winds already were near 120 mph (195 kph) Friday morning, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
State-owned Petroleos Mexicanos
closed 14 production wells in the northern part of Veracruz state and evacuated workers from some oil platforms, the company said in a statement late Thursday.
The storm's track would carry it close to the Mexico's largest power plant — and only nuclear generator — at Laguna Verde. It would then roar into the mountainous, flood-prone region where a storm killed more than 300 people in 1999, most in landslides.
The Mexican government issued a hurricane warning for a 186-mile (300-kilometer) stretch of coast in Veracruz state, stretching northward from the city of the same name. On its predicted path,
Karl could make landfall between the port of Veracruz and the oil hub of Poza Rica.
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