Hurricane Delta Barrels Toward Mexico

Hurricane Delta was barreling toward Mexico early Wednesday as a Category 3 storm that threatened to produce a “life-threatening” storm surge along portions of the Yucatán Peninsula, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The storm, the ninth named hurricane of the Atlantic season, was about 35 miles east-northeast of Cozumel, Mexico, the center said in an update at 5 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday. It was expected to make landfall on Wednesday morning.

“Conditions are going downhill fast for northeastern Yucatan,” the hurricane center said.

As of early Wednesday morning, Delta had maximum sustained winds of nearly 115 miles per hour, with higher gusts. The storm’s intensity had fallen slightly from Tuesday night, when it was briefly upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane, and forecasters expected it to weaken further as it moved over the Yucatán Peninsula later in the day.