As per forecasters, as on Monday (local time), Hurricane Newton was located about 125 miles south-southeast of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
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CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) – Hurricane Newton swept onto the Gulf of California after slamming the resorts of southern Baja and headed on a path expected to take it to the Mexican mainland by Wednesday morning and then on to the USA border with potentially risky rains for Arizona and New Mexico.
“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.
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.
Roberto Dominguez, a customer relations worker at the Fairfield Marriot, said the hotel’s windows and balconies had been sufficiently protected from the storm and guests were fine, although cellphone and internet services had been knocked out.
Newton is expected to move up the peninsula and enter the Gulf of California by Tuesday night. Newton could reach the USA border as a tropical storm at midday Wednesday, and drop 1 to 3 inches of rain over parts of Arizona and New Mexico through Thursday, threatening flash floods and landslides, forecasters said.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted Newton could cross the peninsula as a hurricane and re-enter the Gulf of California with hurricane force winds.
The storm caused a large swell that sunk a shrimp fishing boat between the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific ocean, leaving two people dead and three missing, said Los Cabos civil protection director Marco Antonio Vazquez.
Coastal portions of five Mexican states could see 5 to 10 inches of rain, with isolated maximums of 15 inches, the hurricane centre said. “There is enough food and fuel for the next 20 days”.
Earlier Monday, as a tropical storm, Newton dumped torrential rains that prompted some 100 people to evacuate their homes and damaged residences in Uruapan in the Pacific coast state of Michoacan, the city government reported. No deaths have been reported.
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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.
