Berliner Tageblatt - Hurricane Polo sweeps over Mexico's Pacific coast, heads inland

It made landfall late Monday in the south of Baja California peninsula as a Category 3 hurricane packing winds of up to 175 kilometers (110 miles) per hour, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Polo raked across the peninsula and hopped the Gulf of California, then weakened to a tropical storm as it churned northeast into the Mexican mainland.

Up to 20 centimeters (eight inches) of rainfall is expected in the state of Sonora, said the NHC, warning of life-threatening flooding and mudslides.

It is the latest in a busy Pacific storm season turbo-charged by the El Nino weather phenomenon which has caused unprecedented warming in the equatorial Pacific.

The eye of the storm barreled over the peninsular fishing village of Las Barrancas, which was largely unreachable after a swollen river caused a highway bridge to collapse.

Southward along the Baja California Sur coast, streets were flooded and the power was out in several towns including the small port of Adolfo Lopez Mateos and whale-watching town of Puerto San Carlos.

"The howling of the wind was terrifying; it sounded like the devil was on the loose," Elvira Sánchez, who sat out the storm in a primary school acting as a shelter in Adolfo Lopez Mateos, told AFP.

Her home of salvaged wood was still standing after the storm but the tin roofs had been blown off the kitchen and bedroom.

"It barely brought any rain, it was mostly wind," Victor Garcia, a resident of Puerto San Carlos, told AFP as he gathered branches that had fallen on his house.

The state power company was working to restore electricity and authorities promised to help with home repairs and to dredge flooded streets.

Baja California Sur's governor Victor Castro, on a shelter visit, told AFP that local infrastructure has suffered "little damage."

Nature, he said, had decided "to be kind this year."

A military vessel docked in the area with 2,000 batches of food and basic supplies, drinking water, backhoes, heavy transport vehicles, inflatable boats, a demolition team, and a helicopter "to provide support to the population," the Navy reported.

Baja California Sur is one of the Mexican states most exposed to major storms.

This year's Pacific hurricane season is shaping up as more severe than usual, as a Super El Nino wreaks devastation across Central America, bringing historic droughts and flooding.

Meteorologists also issued Polo-related warnings of heavy rain and flooding in parts of 10 US states including Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, some of which are experiencing drought.

Meanwhile Tropical Storm Rachel is paralleling Mexico's Pacific coast and is forecast to strengthen into a major hurricane by Thursday.

F.Müller--BTB