Kay weakens to tropical storm, leaves strong rains and winds

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Kay became a tropical storm as it lost strength in its course along Mexico’s Pacific coast Thursday afternoon, leaving behind abundant rain and strong winds, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Kay was packing maximum sustained winds of 110 km per hour (70 miles per hour) late Thursday afternoon, slipping from a Category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

The storm had previously reached Category 2 status Wednesday as it passed by the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.

Kay killed three people in the southwestern state of Guerrero over the weekend and damaged several houses.

It had also prompted Mexican airlines VivaAerobus, Volaris and Aeromexico to cancel domestic flights to popular tourist destination Los Cabos.

Even as the storm weakens over the coming days, the Miami-based hurricane center said Kay should cause heavy rains and flash flooding along the Baja California peninsula and parts of northwestern Mexico through Saturday morning.

Kay is expected to make a turn westward by Saturday evening, the NHC said.

(Reporting by Raul Cortes and Diego Ore; editing by Jonathan Oatis)