Hurricane Goes Ashore, Batters Mexican Coast

Hurricane Diana battered Mexico’s Gulf Coast with 85-m.p.h winds Tuesday, toppling trees and electricity poles in Poza Rica, 25 miles inland, federal highway police said.

Red Cross spokesman Moises Gutierrez Pina said by telephone that at least one person was injured. Hundreds of residents fled low-lying areas before Diana hit.

The eye of the storm was over Tuxpan, on the coast 180 miles northeast of Mexico City, at 4:45 p.m. EDT, the U.S. National Weather Service near Miami said. By 6 p.m. EDT , the center of the storm, with winds at 75 m.p.h., was 20 miles west of Tuxpan, moving west at about 10 m.p.h.

Rosa Maria Ahuja, a spokeswoman for the state government, said Diana had affected 14 towns at the foot of the eastern Sierra Madre.

Telephone lines to Tuxpan were out. The Red Cross and highway police in Poza Rica, on higher ground 30 miles southwest of Tuxpan, said they had no radio contact with the coastal town.

Small craft were warned to remain in port from Baffin Bay, Texas, southward.

Rainfall of 10 inches or more was expected along Diana’s path.