VERACRUZ, Mexico — Hurricane Karl grew with surprising speed into a powerful Category 3 storm Friday, prompting closure of Gulf of Mexico oil facilities and the country’s largest power plant.
About 1,000 people evacuated to shelters near the Laguna Verde electrical plant, Mexico’s only nuclear generator, and some coastal towns as the storm approached. By late Friday morning, it was 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Veracruz city — which was already being lashed by 100 mph (150 kph) winds, according to Isidro Cano, chief of civil protection in the city.
Some 22 Gulf communities reported waves as high as 16 feet (5 meters) waves and flooding on coastal roads, according to state civil protection spokesman Jose Jesus Vazquez.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Karl had reached peak intensity and was not likely to get stronger before making landfall around midday just south of Laguna Verde between the port of Veracruz and the oil hub of Poza Rica.
The storm’s track also would carry into the mountainous, flood-prone region where a storm killed more than 300 people in 1999, most in landslides. Veracruz Gov. Fidel Herrera said Karl could be the worst hurricane to hit the gulf state in 50 years.
“We are releasing more water from the reservoirs, which could be overwhelmed by the rain,” Herrera said.
State-owned Petroleos Mexicanos closed 14 production wells in the northern part of the state and evacuated workers from some oil platforms, the company said in a statement late Thursday.
Workers also were evacuated from the closed Laguna Verde plant, along with some residents in the nearby town of Farallon and in Palma Sola, Cardel and inland in the state capital, Jalapa, emergency officials said.
Authorities in Veracruz state — whose southern half has suffered severe flooding over the past few weeks — prepared sleeping mats, bottled water and other supplies for anyone taking refuge in shelters. Workers in Veracruz city cut dangerous tree limbs that could become flying debris.
About 80,000 people have had their homes damaged and nine people have been killed in flooding from heavy rains in southern Veracruz since Aug. 19. Officials expressed concern Karl could raise river levels again, just as some residents are thinking of returning to their homes.
In the beach town of Tecolutla, just south of Poza Rica, fishermen and operators of small tour boats began pulling their craft out of the water.
Some people boarded up windows with sheets of plywood, lashed down cooking gas tanks and reinforced doors and signs to prevent them from being blow away by the hurricane’s wind, said Tecolutla’s civil defense director, Edilberto Peralta.
“We are getting ready and warning people early, to avoid any loss of human life,” said Peralta, whose town of about 25,000 people was lashed by Hurricane Dean in 2007 and severely flooded by a tropical depression in 1999. “We are ready to take drastic measures.”
He said officials were considering whether any residents needed to evacuate their homes.
The port of Tuxpan was closed to small craft Thursday, and Port Capt. Gaspar Cime said larger vessels would be banned later in the day. Tuxpan has about 135,000 people.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Igor’s top winds weakened Friday to 120 mph (195 kph) on a track that could take it over Bermuda by Monday. The government of Bermuda issued a hurricane watch.
Farther east over the Atlantic, Hurricane Julia strengthened slightly early Friday, though remained a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph).
Karl could cause storm surges of 6 to 9 feet (2 to 3 meters) and “large and destructive waves,” as well as dump up to 15 inches (40 centimeters) of rain in some areas of Veracruz state, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in a statement.
As a tropical storm, Karl hit Yucatan on Wednesday, downing tree limbs and causing power outages. The storm made landfall on the Mexican Caribbean coast about midway between the cruise ship port of Majahual and the coastal town of Xcalak.
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