Katia weakens to tropical depression over Mexico

JUCHITAN, Mexico — The Latest on Hurricane Katia and a major earthquake in Mexico (all times local):

7 a.m.

Hurricane Katia has deteriorated into a soggy tropical depression that is dumping rain over the mountains of east-central Mexico.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the storm is now centered about 145 miles (235 kilometers) south of the Gulf coast city of Tampico in a mountainous region dotted with small towns. Katia made landfall Friday night as a hurricane.

The hurricane center says the storm is expected to bring 10 to 15 inches (25 to 37 centimeters of rain to the area, which has a history of deadly mudslides and flooding.

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4:15 a.m.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says that Tropical Storm Katia is starting to stall over Mexico's Sierra Madre mountains.

Katia made landfall north of Tecolutla, Mexico late Friday as a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 75 mph (120 kph). It then was downgraded to a tropical storm and forecasters expect it to dissipate Saturday.

The hurricane center said that Katia's maximum sustained winds are now down to near 40 mph (65 kph) and that it is expected to drift east of the Sierra Madre mountains as it peters out.

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1:20 a.m.

The National Hurricane Center says Katia has weakened into a tropical storm as it moves further into Mexico, with wind speeds of up to 45 mph (72.4 kph).

Katia made landfall north of Tecolutla, Mexico late Friday as a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 75 mph (120 kph). Forecasters expect the hurricane to weaken quickly over the next 24 hours.

Elsewhere, a Category 5 Hurricane Irma left a string of deaths and damage across the Caribbean, battering Cuba late Friday with winds of 160 mph (257 kph) and bearing down on south Florida. To the east, Hurricane Jose, a Category 4 storm, was following behind, threatening further damage in Irma's wake.

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One of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in Mexico and a raging hurricane dealt a devastating one-two punch to the country, killing at least 61 people as workers scrambled to respond to the twin national emergencies.

The 8.1 quake off the southern Pacific coast just before midnight Thursday toppled hundreds of buildings in several states. Hardest-hit was Juchitan, Oaxaca, where 36 people died and a third of the city's homes collapsed or were otherwise rendered uninhabitable, President Enrique Pena Nieto said late Friday in an interview with the Televisa news network.

In downtown Juchitan, the remains of brick walls and clay tile roofs cluttered streets as families dragged mattresses onto sidewalks to spend a second anxious night sleeping outdoors. Some were newly homeless, while others feared further aftershocks could topple their cracked adobe dwellings.

Across the country, Hurricane Katia was roaring onshore north of Tecolutla in Veracruz state, pelting the region with intense rains and winds.