HURRICANE Norbert bore down on Mexico's Baja California peninsula yesterday at a powerful Category 2, with hotels warning tourists to stay away from beaches as the skies darkened.
Norbert, with winds of up to 110mph, was expected to hit land along a relatively unpopulated stretch north of the resort of Cabo San Lucas and then make a second landfall late at night in north-western Mexico's mainland – possibly still as a hurrican
e, the US National Hurricane Centre said.
Hurricane warnings were issued for the coast of Baja California and along the coast of the border state of Sonora.
Norbert was expected to sweep across Baja yesterday, cross the Gulf of California and then head toward the Mexican mainland.
Yesterday, the hurricane's centre was located south of Cabo San Lazaro, Mexico, and was moving north at 15mph.
The storm was expected to dump more rain on waterlogged West Texas, where authorities were preparing for more flooding. State and local officials plan to activate an emergency operations centre tomorrow in Presidio, where an earthen levee is struggling to hold back the swollen Rio Grande.
The Governor of Baja California Sur state, Narciso Agundez, said that its officials were "very worried".
Under overcast skies in Baja California, fishermen hauled their boats onto beaches in La Paz, a port town on the peninsula's eastern coast. Yellow flags on beaches warned people to stay out of the water.
Eli and Claudia Tubia, on holiday from Texarkana, Texas, took a cruise on Wednesday night despite the coming storm, but their hotel in resort-dotted Cabo San Lucas was already storing away outdoor furniture. "They kind of cleared out the beach, and the restaurants that they have on the beach. They took all the furnishings away," Eli Tubia said.
Meanwhile, in southern Mexico, Tropical Storm Odile was approaching the resort of Acapulco, hugging the south-west coast of Mexico.
A hurricane watch was in effect from Tecpan de Galeana to Punta San Telmo in Guerrero state and tropical storm warning from Punta Maldonado west to Punta San Telmo, as Odile moved parallel to the Pacific coast with winds of about 65mph.
Odile was located about 90 miles west of Acapulco, and was moving northwest at about 14mph. Odile could become a hurricane and could start to head inland, the hurricane centre said.
Forecasters said Odile would sweep close to land and could dump as much as eight inches of rain, threatening dangerous mudslides.
Odile has already caused flooding in Acapulco and forced officials to cancel classes at schools.
Civil defence officials in Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located, urged about 10,000 people living along river banks or other dangerous areas to evacuate.
