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June 01, 2022

Hurricane Agatha, the first named Atlantic storm of the year, has left at least 11 people dead in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Some 40,000 people have been affected by the storm.

The storm made landfall Monday as a Category 2, packing winds up to 170 kph. Reports of the missing range from 20 to 33 people.

"There were fundamentally two reasons" for the deaths, Gov. Alejando Murat told local media. "There were rivers that overflowed, and on the other hand — and the most serious part — were landslides."

But even as cleanup began, officials were keeping an eye on another potential trouble spot developing along the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted the 2022 season in the Atlantic will have above average storm activity with about 20 named storms.

Hurricane season, which officially starts June 1, runs through the end of November.

Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press.