Ernesto killed five people after hitting Mexico as a hurricane, dpa quoted Mexican authorities as reported Friday. The storm dissipated Friday over the country's mountainous southern regions, the Miami-based US National Hurricane Center (NHC)said. Heavy rain associated with the storm was expected to persist through late Friday in the Mexican states of Veracruz, Tabasco, Puebla, Oaxaca and Guerrero, but sustained wind speeds were down to a maximum of 35 kilometres per hour, the NHC said. Ernesto made initial landfall as a hurricane on the southern Yucatan Peninsula late Tuesday. A day later, floods triggered by the storm killed two people in the south-eastern Mexican state of Tabasco, while three members of a single family were killed late Thursday in Veracruz when a tree fell on their car. The storm made landfall again on Thursday in the state of Veracruz, on the Mexican mainland, where it weakened after having crossed the Yucatan Peninsula and the Bay of Campeche. In Veracruz, 1,200 people were evacuated to shelters, although Ernesto was believed to have caused only minor damage in Mexico. Media reports mentioned another man who was killed when he fell off a roof in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, but authorities said the incident was not linked to the storm.
