SCORES fled flooded homes yesterday as Hurricane Norbert lashed Mexico's southern Baja California peninsula with torrential rain and wind.
Norbert, with winds of up to 105mph, was expected to hit land along a sparsely populated stretch north of the resort of Cabo San Lucas and then make a second landfall in north-western Mexico's mainland – possibly as a hurricane, the US National Hurri
cane Centre said.
Residents fled to shelters as floodwaters rose in their homes. The high winds bent palm trees and some streets ended up knee-deep water in the town of Puerto San Carlos.
"We left our house because we were scared. Our house is pretty poor and the water was already coming in," said Maria Espinosa, 54, who arrived at a secondary school with her daughter and two grandchildren. They joined about 60 other people sitting on foam mattresses and blankets.
A hurricane warning was issued for the west coast of Baja California from Puerto San Andresito to Agua Blanca.
The government also issued hurricane warnings along the coast of the border state of Sonora and on the east coast of the Baja peninsula from near La Paz north to Loreto.
Norbert is expected to sweep across Baja on Saturday, cross the Gulf of California and then head toward the Mexican mainland.
The storm's remnants were expected to dump more rain on water-logged 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 officials are "very worried."
Under overcast skies in Baja California, fishermen were busy hauling their boats on to 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.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Odile hugged the south-west coast of Mexico.
A hurricane watch was in effect from Manzanillo to Zihuatanejo, a resort town north of Acapulco. A tropical storm warning was in effect from Tecpan de Galeana to Manzanillo, as Odile moved parallel to the Pacific coast with winds of about 65mph.
Odile was located about 35 miles southwest of Zihuatenejo, a resort town north of Acapulc,o and was moving northwest at about 10mph. Odile could become a hurricane, and a small deviation in its path could bring the storm inland, the hurricane centre said.
Forecasters said Odile would sweep close to land and could dump as much as eight inches of rain, threatening mudslides.
Odile has already caused flooding in Acapulco and forced officials to cancel classes at local schools.
