July 31 (Reuters) - Two hurricanes moved in a row across the eastern Pacific on Wednesday towards Hawaii, although one of the storms could lose strength as it approaches the US archipelago.
The closest cyclone to Hawaii was Hurricane Erick, which intensified starting on Monday - when it was still a tropical storm - until reaching category 4 on Tuesday on the Saffir-Simpson scale that considers five levels.
In the last few hours, Erick weakened to a Category 3 hurricane, presenting still dangerous maximum sustained winds of about 205 kilometers per hour, the United States National Hurricane Center (CNH) said in its most recent report.
The cyclone was located about 1,115 kilometers from the Big Island of Hawaii.
Erick is expected to continue losing strength and be re-identified as a tropical storm by the time it passes near Hawaii.
It is expected to hit the south of the Big Island on Friday morning. Meteorologists say the sector could begin to feel the storm's gusts of wind later in the week.
Meanwhile, much further east in the Pacific, Category 1 Hurricane Flossie had maximum sustained winds of 130 kilometers per hour and is expected to gradually gain intensity and speed in the coming days, the CNH said.
On Wednesday morning, the cyclone was located about 1,850 kilometers southwest of the Mexican state of Baja California, the report said, and was heading slowly west. The latest weather report shows it approaching Hawaii on Sunday night.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta. Editing in Spanish by Marion Giraldo)
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