Hurricane Polo bore down on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula on Monday with a threat of storm surge, high winds and heavy rains, while Hurricane Nolo threatened parts of Hawaii with torrential rain even as the storm edged further away from the state’s islands.
Polo was a Category 3 storm with top sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph) Sunday evening, the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said. The storm is expected to lash the peninsula with heavy rainfall overnight and could produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides.
Nolo was well southwest of Hawaii and moving away from the Big Island as the weekend drew to a close, but a high-wind warning, wind advisory and high surf advisory remained in effect for parts of the island through Sunday evening. Nolo’s maximum sustained winds increased to near 105 mph (165 kph).
In Puerto San Carlos, a fishing town of about 5,700 people on Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, residents boarded up homes Sunday as workers hauled dirt and rubble to shore up the embankments protecting the town. Authorities said 90 per cent of the community was susceptible to flooding.
Residents feared high tides and pounding waves could breach the barriers and send seawater through the community. Some families planned to evacuate to shelters in Ciudad Constitucion, about 37 miles (60 kilometres) away.
“Civil Protection told those of us here in San Carlos to evacuate because this is a high-risk area. With the current tides, the expected waves and the wind, the earthen barriers they built (to prevent flooding) could give way. They said they wouldn’t hold,” Rocío Sánchez, a fisherman, said.
Forecasters said Polo would hit the Mexican mainland after crossing Baja California and could bring heavy rain and flooding to parts of the US Southwest later in the week. Polo was moving to the north at 12 mph (19 kph) about 270 miles (435 kilometres) west of Cabo San Lucas at the peninsula’s southern tip, the hurricane centre said.
