Hurricane Polo approaches Mexico, threatens 'severe' damage
Strong winds battered Mexico's Baja California peninsula on Monday ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Polo, a major El Niño-charged storm expected to cause severe damage along the Pacific coast.
Polo is forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the peninsula as a Category 3 hurricane around 4 p.m. local time (2300 GMT), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Early Monday, strong winds were already churning the sea off Puerto San Carlos, a small fishing port of nearly 6,000 people in Baja California Sur state that lies in Polo's path.
Juan Manuel Sarabia had boarded up the facade of his home and reinforced it with wooden beams.
"It's coming with full force," the 53-year-old whale-watching and fishing guide told AFP. "We have to protect ourselves for our families and our property."
This year's Pacific hurricane season is shaping up as more severe than usual, with a super El Niño—an extreme version of a recurring weather pattern—causing historic warming across the equatorial Pacific.
The hurricane had initially been forecast not to make landfall but changed course late last week. It is expected to hammer the peninsula and lash mainland Mexico as a hurricane early Tuesday before weakening, according to the NHC.
Polo was packing sustained winds of 185 kilometers per hour (115 mph), the NHC said, warning of "life-threatening winds and flash floods" across Baja California Sur and Sonora states.
Sarabia breathed a sigh of relief when he opened a weather app on his phone and saw that Puerto San Carlos was no longer in the hurricane's projected path. It was expected to make landfall farther north.
The head of Mexico's meteorological service, Fabian Vazquez, said storm surges and heavy rains could cause "very severe" damage.
Some 169 shelters have been opened across Baja California Sur.
In Puerto San Carlos, only a handful of homes and businesses were boarded up or sandbagged against flooding.
Authorities did not issue a mandatory evacuation order, but some residents decided to ride out the storm in the nearest city, about half an hour away.
'It will be tough'
Margarita Diaz and her family ultimately opted to hunker down at home in Puerto San Carlos, behind windows sealed only with blue masking tape.
"It will be tough, but I have faith in God," Diaz said.
The military has deployed nearly 7,000 troops in the state, where classes were suspended and public servants were ordered to work from home where possible.
Laura Velazquez, national coordinator of civil protection, said all maritime activities in the area were suspended, as was access to beaches.
El Niño raises surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean and causes global changes in winds and rainfall.
In addition to Polo, meteorologists are monitoring Rachel, a tropical storm brewing in the Pacific off Mexico that has the potential to strengthen.
"It will move parallel to the coast of Mexico all week, but right toward the weekend it could also start moving toward Baja California Sur," Vazquez said.
