Issued at 900 PM MDT MON SEP 05 2016 000 WTPZ45 KNHC 060255 TCDEP5HURRICANE NEWTON DISCUSSION NUMBER 6 NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL EP152016 900 PM MDT MON SEP 05 2016Newton has continued to quickly strengthen this evening, with a ragged eye occasionally becoming apparent in infrared satellite pictures.
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Forecasters expect Newton to gain speed, with the storm centre expected to be near or over the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula by Tuesday morning, by which time it could be near hurricane intensity. The hurricane will be moving around the western periphery of a ridge over the southern United States.
Newton threatened to cause more mudslides and flooding in eight states along the Pacific coast, Mexican authorities said, adding that thousands of shelters were readied.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Newton’s winds Tuesday morning were around 90 miles per hour (150 kph) and the storm is expected to still be a hurricane when it makes its second landfall on the northwest coast of mainland Mexico early Wednesday.
According to the Associated Press, State Tourism Secretary Genaro Ruiz said at least 14,000 tourists remained in Los Cabos and noted that all flights had been canceled late Monday ahead of the storm. It is now low season, and hotels popular with American tourists were not full, staff said.
The government of the state of Baja California Sur has opened shelters with room for 16,000 people after the tropical storm was reclassified as a hurricane, with the region braced for torrential rains.
“The most important thing is to stay at home”, said Carlos Godinez, a civil defense official for Baja California Sur state.
Foreign tourists were still walking the streets of Cabo San Lucas even as workers began boarding over windows of businesses.
“There is no need for mass buying”, Los Cabos Mayor Arturo de la Rosa Escalante said.
A hurricane warning was in effect for Cabo San Lucas and the nearby coastline. However the storm was expected to remain a hurricane when it moves from the peninsula to the northwestern coast of mainland Mexico early on Wednesday, the NHC said.
The storm is due to produce up to 10 inches (25 centimetres) of rain in several Pacific coast states, which could trigger life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, the centre said.
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Floods and landslides damaged or affected some 70 homes and schools and trapped around 200 people in Acapulco, the resort in the southwestern state of Guerrero.
