Hurricane Rick moved toward Mexico's Pacific coast Saturday and was expected to gain strength, the US National Hurricane Center said.

As of 1500 GMT, Rick was 300 kilometers (180 miles) southwest of Acapulco and moving at 11 km/h with sustained winds of 130 km/h.

"Rapid strengthening is forecast during the next day or so, and Rick is expected to become a major hurricane on Sunday" as it approaches the coast of Mexico, the NHC said.

Mexican meteorologists forecast intense rains in the south and southeast of the country on Saturday.

Mexico is hit regularly by violent weather on both its Pacific and Caribbean coasts.

The strongest storm this year so far was Hurricane Grace, which killed 11 people in the states of Veracruz and Puebla on August 21.

In late August two people went missing after Hurricane Nora hit the Pacific coast state of Jalisco, and on September 13 Hurricane Pamela caused minor damage in the northwest state of Sinaloa.