Sawt Falasteen - Lidia strengthens to major hurricane heading for Mexico

In the seaside city of Puerto Vallarta -- a popular destination for Mexican and foreign visitors -- shopkeepers boarded up windows and piled up sandbags in case of flooding.

School classes were suspended in some areas and residents were urged to take precautions, such as moving to temporary shelters and staying away from the sea.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said civil protection personnel were on alert and around 6,000 members of the armed forces had been deployed to help residents.

Lidia was packing maximum sustained winds of around 115 miles (185 kilometers) per hour and was expected to make landfall late Tuesday or overnight, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

It intensified to a Category 3 hurricane -- the third highest on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, according to the NHC.

Dangerous winds and heavy rains were expected to begin on Tuesday afternoon, it warned.

Lidia was located about 155 miles southwest of Puerto Vallarta, in Jalisco state, the report said.

It was expected to bring rainfall of up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) to Nayarit, Sinaloa and Jalisco states, according to the NHC.

"These rains will likely produce flash and urban flooding, along with possible mudslides in areas of higher terrain near the coast," it warned.

"A dangerous storm surge is expected to produce significant coastal flooding near and to the south of where the center makes landfall. Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large and dangerous waves," it added.

Hurricanes hit Mexico every year on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts, usually between May and November.

Just this week, Tropical Storm Max left two people dead and dozens of houses flooded in the southern state of Guerrero, one of the country's poorest regions, authorities said Tuesday.

Max made landfall on Monday, causing a river to overflow before dissipating.

A rancher drowned trying to rescue his cattle and a second person died in a road accident during the storm, civil protection official Roberto Arroyo told AFP by telephone.

In August, storm Hilary, which at one point was a Category 4 hurricane, caused one death and damaged infrastructure as it hit the northwestern state of Baja California.

Scientists have warned that storms are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer with climate change.

Y.AlMasri--SF-PST