MEXICO CITY, Oct 11, 2011 (From AFP) - Mexico's bustling port city of Manzanillo was bracing Tuesday for the arrival of Hurricane Jova, a powerful storm that forecasters said could unleash torrential rains and life-threatening mudslides. The Miami-based US National Hurricane Center said in a 1200 GMT bulletin that Jova was packing maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometers (115 miles) per hour and was 210 kilometers (130 miles) southwest of Manzanillo, in Colima state. A major catergory three storm, Jova was moving north-northeast at nine kilometers (six miles) per hour, with its expected arrival in Manzanillo sometime before dusk." The center of the hurricane will be near the coast of Mexico in the hurricane warning area by this afternoon or evening," the NHC said, adding it expected the storm to reach the coast at "near major hurricane strength. "Mexico has issued hurricane alerts for large swaths of the Pacific coast and placed four southern coastal states on high alert ahead of the expected arrival of the storm. A zone of some 500 kilometers (300 miles) could be affected by the storm, stretching from the port of Lazaro Cardenas in Michoacan to the popular tourist area of Cabo Corrientes in Jalisco. Colima, Jalisco, Michoacan and Nayarit state to the north were all put on guard for possible landslides from heavy rain expected to be dumped by the ninth Pacific hurricane of the season.

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