MEXICO CITY – Hurricane Franklin made landfall early Thursday morning on the coast of Mexico with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph.
The National Hurricane Center says the storm reached the coastline about 80 miles southeast of Tuxpan, Mexico after strengthening into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season on Wednesday.
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Authorities in Veracruz ordered classes cancelled at public schools Thursday as a precautionary measure.
As a tropical storm, Franklin made a relatively mild run across the Yucatan Peninsula earlier in the week. Mexico Civil Defense director Ricardo de la Cruz said Tuesday that the storm's impact on Yucatan was not as bad as initially feared, with some trees down and power out in some areas.
At 5 a.m. Thursday, Franklin's center was 105 miles west-northwest of Veracruz and it was heading west at 15 mph. Maximum wind speed was 70 mph. Tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 115 miles, mainly to the northeast of the center.
Franklin quickly lost strength as it moved ashore. The government of Mexico has discontinued all hurricane and tropical storm watches along the country's Gulf Coast.
Forecasters fear Franklin's rains could cause flash floods and mudslides in the mountains of central Mexico. Four to eight inches of rain were forecast for mainland areas in the storm's path, with localized amounts of up to 15 inches.