Hurricane Orlene lashes Mexico’s Pacific coast

MEXICO CITY: Hurricane Orlene made landfall on Monday on Mexico´s Pacific coast, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and a risk of flooding and landslides, forecasters said.

Orlene came ashore south of the beachside city of Mazatlan in Sinaloa state as a Category One hurricane -- the weakest on a scale of five. At 1500 GMT, the storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour and moving inland toward the northeast, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC). Boats had been brought ashore in Mazatlan ahead of Orlene´s arrival, and businesses boarded up windows and laid down sandbags in case of flooding.