MEXICO CITY (AP) — Southwestern Mexico braced for coastal flooding and mudslides Wednesday after Polo, a powerful Pacific cyclone, became a major hurricane. Forecasters also warned that Hawaii could face another onslaught of harsh weather later in the week.
Hurricane Polo, an “extremely dangerous” storm, is expected to skirt Mexico’s Guerrero state, submerging coastal areas with 4 to 6 inches of rain through Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
At its peak, Polo was a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph. It was a Category 4 by Wednesday morning, but still packing 150 mph top sustained winds.
“Fluctuations in intensity are expected, but Polo is expected to remain a very powerful major hurricane during the next few days,” the NHC said.
Waves, flooding and mudslides are all risks
Hurricane Polo was not expected to make landfall, meteorologists and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said, but tropical storm conditions were expected along the Pacific coast in Guerrero, Michoacan and Colima states through Thursday.
Hurricane-force winds can extend up to 40 miles from the storm’s center while areas up to 105 miles from the eye will be hit by tropical storm-force winds, meteorologists said. Polo was 160 miles south of Zihuatanejo and 300 miles southeast of Manzanillo on Wednesday, the center reported.
Concepción López Villegas was busily bolstering her seaside restaurant in Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, against the expected onslaught of rain. Strong waves were already hitting the beaches and López Villegas said she feared the storm could destroy the small business she worked decades to build.
“We’re worried and trying to protect our businesses,” López Villegas said. “And of course, we’re sad because it’s our heritage, our legacy that from one moment to another could be destroyed.”
National Hurricane Center data showed Polo’s winds had reached speeds earlier this week comparable to only a few hurricanes in the region in recent decades, primarily Hurricane Patricia, which had winds that reached 215 mph in 2015.
Polo was named the third Category 5 hurricane of the Pacific season on Tuesday, following Genevieve and Lowell earlier this year.
El Nino fueled rapid intensification
The rapid intensification of Hurricane Polo stunned scientists and authorities alike, with the NHC writing in a report that it was “truly remarkable” how much strength Polo gained in just 24 hours.
Philip Klotzbach, research scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University, attributed the intensification to the weather phenomenon known as El Nino, which has fueled crippling droughts in Mexico and Central America and floods in other parts of the region.
In the Pacific, it has resulted in warmer waters and wind patterns that act as fodder for hurricanes, he said.
“There are all the ingredients that hurricanes need to get really strong really fast,” Klotzbach said.
Odalys strengthens into a hurricane
Hurricane Odalys meanwhile churned elsewhere in the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, carrying maximum sustained winds of 75 mph.
Odalys churned about 1,265 miles west-southwest of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula and was not at risk of making landfall, according to the hurricane center.
