courtesy NOAA

Hurricane Felix, a tropical storm over the weekend, strengthened overnight into a “Category 5” system on the course taken by Hurricane Dean two weeks ago — aimed again at Mexican oil company Pemex in the Yucatan Peninsula.

Felix is moving in a west-by-southwest direction across the lower Caribbean from its birthplace just above Aruba. The U.S. National Hurricane Centre has the storm arching toward the Gulf of Mexico in the coming five days.

Winds of up to 270 kilometres per hour and a storm surge of up to 18 feet are the hallmark of a Category 5, stronger than the storm that swamped New Orleans and felled GoM oil rigs and platforms almost exactly two years ago.