Light rain fell in southern parts of Arizona and New Mexico on Wednesday, ahead of Newton’s main thrust.
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People help a tourist move his auto after it became stuck in the sand, after the passing of Hurricane Newton in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016.
“This will keep the storm stronger for awhile, likely keeping it at hurricane strength into Wednesday”, said Moore, adding that after the storm makes its second landfall in northeast Mexico on Wednesday, it is expected to weaken to a tropical storm and even further to a tropical depression as it makes its way into Arizona.
On Monday morning, the storm boasted strong winds of 60 miles per hour, gusting higher, with more strengthening expected.
A couple walks next to an advertisement toppled by Hurricane Newton in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Tuesday Sept. 6, 2016.
The storm’s moisture is set to reach the USA southwest later in the week, with the potential for torrential downpours in Arizona in particular, possibly triggering flash flooding. The storm could bring potentially unsafe rains to parts of the country.
Two men shovel sand deposited by Hurricane Newton, from inside a restaurant in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Tuesday, Sept. 6 2016.
A shrimp boat capsized in the Gulf of California amid rough seas.
After coming ashore for the first time early on Tuesday, the storm uprooted trees and shattered windows, leaving two dead in Baja California, as thousands of tourists hunkered down in hotels in the Los Cabos resort area.
The storm’s maximum sustained winds early Wednesday are near 70 miles per hour (110 kph) with rapid weakening expected as the center moves inland.
The storm was expected to dump eight to 15 centimeters (three to six inches) of rain in Sonora, before traveling to the USA states of Arizona and New Mexico later in the day, the Florida-based weather center said.
Some 15,000 tourists are in the region, mostly around the popular resort of Los Cabos, according to the region’s tourism secretary, Genaro Ruiz Hernandez, who announced that all flights were cancelled in the state late Monday.
Heavier rainfall may trigger landslides and create life-threatening conditions for residents near the Mexico border, the National Hurricane Center said.
City workers in Tucson are monitoring over 140 dips in low-lying roads for possible street flooding as remnants of Tropical Storm Newton move into northward from Mexico. Southeast Arizona, southwest, and west-central New Mexico could see total rain accumulations of from one to three inches, with some locally higher amounts overnight on Wednesday.
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In 2014, Los Cabos suffered heavy damage to homes, shops and hotels when it was hammered by Hurricane Odile, which hit as a Category 3 storm. “I think that we are very fortunate and blessed”.
