MEXICO CITY, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Mexico issued storm warnings on its Pacific coast on Saturday evening as a new tropical depression formed around 200 miles (322 km) south of Acapulco, a city still recovering from devastating floods that hit the country last month.
The Miami-based National Hurricane Center said tropical depression 17-E was expected to strengthen to a tropical storm by Sunday and could be blowing hurricane-force winds late Monday, threatening the coastline with heavy rainfall.
Mexico suffered its worst flooding on record when tropical storms Manuel and Ingrid converged from the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico in mid-September, killing more than 150 people and causing estimated damages of around $6 billion.
Acapulco was one of the places worst hit by the chaos, as torrential rains put the beach resort's airport under water and stranded thousands of tourists.
The NHC said Mexican authorities had issued a tropical storm watch along the Pacific coast from Acapulco to the port of Lazaro Cardenas further northwest.
Late on Saturday evening, depression 17-E was churning about 205 miles (330 km) south of Acapulco and moving northwestwards at about 8 mph (13 kph). The depression was generating maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (56 kph), the NHC added.
The weather front was expected to move slowly towards the coast near Acapulco over the next few days, NHC forecasts showed. Mexico has no major oil installations in its path.
(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Eric Walsh)
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