Hurricane Barbara close to Category 5 far out in Pacific

MEXICO CITY – A powerful Hurricane Barbara rapidly gained strength and was close to growing into a Category 5 storm Tuesday night as it pushed out over the eastern Pacific Ocean, far from land.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Barbara had maximum sustained winds of nearly 155 mph (250 kph), just under the 157 mph threshold for a Category 5 storm.

The storm’s centre was about 1,175 miles (1,895 kilometres) west-southwest of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula and it was moving to the west-northwest at 14 mph (22 kph).

The hurricane centre said the storm was not expected to gain much more strength during the night and predicted it would begin to quickly lose power Wednesday afternoon.