Karl's eye came ashore just north of Veracruz at 11:30 a.m. CT, according to meteorologist Todd Kimberlain of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Veracruz was spared from Hurricane Karl's strongest winds, but the storm will dump a "humongous" amount of rain as it moves over the mountains of southern Mexico, said meteorologist Keith Blackwell of the University of South Alabama's Coastal Weather Research Center.

"There will be tremendous rain, with a lot of flash flooding," Blackwell said. "I wouldn't be surprised if some places get 20 or 30 inches [51 or 76 centimeters] of rain."

(See flash flood pictures).

"The runoff will be very quick because