The Category 2 storm spared one fishing town from disaster, but its moisture is now fueling dangerous floods from Arizona to Texas
Hurricane Polo tore into Mexico’s Baja California Sur on Tuesday, flooding coastal neighborhoods and toppling trees, yet the peninsula emerged far better than many residents had feared. The storm’s reach, however, was only beginning to show.
Polo Makes Landfall as a Category 2 Storm
Polo came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane just south of Las Barrancas, roughly 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Cabo San Lázaro, packing maximum sustained winds of 110 mph (175 kph). Forecasters expected the system to unload 6 to 12 inches (about 15 to 30 centimeters) of rain across parts of the state.
About 700 people were still in shelters Tuesday, though officials anticipated they would soon head home. Authorities said no deaths or serious damage had been immediately reported.
Relief Washes Over a Small Fishing Town
In Puerto San Carlos, a modest fishing community on the peninsula, residents stepped outside after the storm to find ankle-deep water pooling in streets and seeping into some homes. Fallen trees blocked paths, but the town itself had largely held together.
Elbia María Bachomo, a 40-year-old shopkeeper, sorted through furniture scattered across her home. She and her three children had grabbed their clothes and fled to a shelter Monday as water began creeping inside. Her husband, meanwhile, was at sea hunting sardines when the hurricane struck, and she considered it fortunate that he made it back alive. Bachomo had feared the family would return to nothing, but they got lucky.
By late Tuesday morning, a weakened Polo had crossed the Gulf of California and made a second landfall in Sonora on the Mexican mainland. Anticipating life-threatening winds and flash floods, state officials halted nonessential activities, including classes, sports and nonessential work, in the capital and more than a dozen municipalities.
Desert Rivers Rage Across the Southwest
North of the border, bands of tropical moisture swept across the U.S. Southwest, transforming normally dry arroyos into torrents. Nearly the entire region fell under flood watches as the sprawling weather system, with Polo at its center, pushed northeast.
Forecasters singled out north-central New Mexico, including Albuquerque and Santa Fe, where 3 to 4 inches (about 8 to 10 centimeters) of rain could fall through Wednesday. Carter Greulich, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Albuquerque, warned of urban flooding and urged residents to avoid flooded roads and arroyos.
Phoenix caught up to 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain early Tuesday before the downpour eased. North of the city, in the New River area, a truck was carried off in a wash, though the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said the driver escaped unharmed. The rocky desert typically sees less than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain a year, and its sparse vegetation makes flash flooding a constant threat.
Utah Family Watches the River Close In
Near Zion National Park in Utah, the East Fork of the Virgin River swelled into a muddy torrent, sweeping a shipping container downstream. In nearby Orderville, where flooding started Monday night, Sabrina Dubay was driving home when her partner called and told her to stay away. The river had wrapped around their entire house, and water eventually pushed through the front doors.
A camper, a snowmobile trailer and other belongings were washed from the yard. Neighbors and friends rushed over to dig a trench around the home as the water climbed.
Southern New Mexico also reported flooding. An unusually wet September left the ground saturated, meaning fresh rainfall runs off quickly, and Greulich noted that flooding impacts could arrive faster as a result.
The Threat Pushes Into Texas and the Plains
The flood risk was expected to spread into the central U.S. late Tuesday and Wednesday. Heavy rain was forecast to hit the Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio areas starting late Wednesday, raising the possibility of life-threatening flash flooding in low-lying areas. Flood watches stretched across parts of west Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa through Thursday, with some spots bracing for up to 5 inches (13 centimeters) of rain.
In the central Pacific, Hurricane Nolo remained a dangerous Category 3 storm as it moved away from Hawaii after soaking parts of the Big Island over the weekend. Nolo was heading north toward the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. Pacific storm activity has run above average this season, a pattern often seen during El Niño years.
Source: AP News
