Hurricane Lidia made landfall on Mexico’s Pacific coast on Tuesday with very strong wind and rain, causing at least one death.

The eye of the storm, rated a category four out of five, impacted the town of Las Peñitas, 55km south-west of the resort of Puerto Vallarta.

With sustained winds of up to 220km per hour, according to the Mexican weather service.

In Punta de Mita in the western state of Nayarit, a falling tree killed a man in his car, the newspaper El Occidental reported on Tuesday evening, citing the civil defence authority.

According to the U.S. Hurricane Centre in Miami, Lidia had developed into an “extremely dangerous’’ hurricane shortly off the coast.

In the affected areas in the states of Jalisco and Nayarit, local authorities said schools would be closed until Wednesday.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called on residents of the region to seek safety and stay away from low-lying areas and rivers.

Soldiers and civil defence officials were on duty, López Obrador wrote on the online platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Mexico’s weather service warned of very heavy rains in Colima, Jalisco, Michoacán, and Nayarit.

Waves up to nine metres high were expected along the coast.

The hurricane season started in the Pacific on May 15 and the Atlantic on June 1.

The season ends in both regions on November 30.

Tropical cyclones form over warm ocean waters.

Increasing global warming increases the probability of strong storms.

A hurricane is defined as a tropical storm system with sustained winds of at least 119km per hour.

(dpa/NAN)