Sawt Falasteen - Lidia leaves at least one dead in Mexico, weakens to storm

Hours after slamming into the coast as an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 hurricane, Lidia had weakened to a tropical storm as it headed northeast across the country, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an update.

Ahead of its arrival the government deployed around 6,000 members of the armed forces to help residents, according to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who urged people to take shelter.

A man died when a tree fell on the car he was driving during strong winds in Bahia de Banderas in Nayarit state, authorities said.

Lidia came ashore near the popular beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, packing maximum sustained winds of around 140 miles (220 kilometers) per hour, the NHC said.

The storm had quickly strengthened to the second-highest category on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale before reaching land.

But by early Wednesday its maximum sustained winds had dropped to 70 miles per hour and it was expected to rapidly lose strength, the NHC said.

In Puerto Vallarta -- a major destination for Mexican and foreign tourists -- shopkeepers earlier boarded up windows and piled up sandbags in case of flooding.

Waves crashed ashore, heavy rain drenched the city and strong winds whipped palm trees.

School classes were suspended, businesses closed early and most residents waited out the storm at home or in shelters opened by the authorities, according to AFP reporters.

But some people were still seen in the streets, taken by surprise by the speed of the hurricane's arrival.

"I was going to go home, but it's very far away. I'm going to have to take shelter somewhere else. There's no transportation. It caught me off guard," said Herson Rodriguez, a 35-year-old fitness trainer and nutritionist.

- 'Flash flooding' -

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

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

After previously warning of a dangerous storm surge where Lidia made landfall, the NHC said water levels along the coast of west-central Mexico would gradually subside overnight.

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.

One person drowned trying to protect livestock and another died in a road accident during the storm, civil protection official Roberto Arroyo told AFP by telephone.

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

U.Shaheen--SF-PST