Seoul Gazette - Little damage as Hurricane Polo sweeps over Mexico's Pacific coast

Polo made landfall on Monday in the south of Baja California peninsula as a Category 3 hurricane packing winds of up to 175 kilometers (110 miles) per hour, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

It is the latest in a busy storm season turbo-charged by the El Nino weather phenomenon which has caused unprecedented warming in the equatorial Pacific.

Its passage left the small town of Puerto San Carlos, a fishing and whale watching destination, without power.

Some streets were partially flooded but all the houses remained standing.

"The passage of the hurricane in Baja California Sur has left us with rain, but no loss of life," the state's governor Victor Castro said in a video call with President Claudia Sheinbaum's office.

"It barely brought any rain, it was mostly wind," Victor Garcia, a resident of Puerto San Carlos, told AFP as he gathered up branches that had fallen on his house.

Polo hit just south of Las Barrancas, a fishing village a two-hour drive north of Puerto San Carlos, the NHC said.

It weakened as it moved inland over Sonora state.

"We will assess the material losses today," Castro said.

Baja California Sur is one of the Mexican states most exposed to the annual hurricane season.

This year's season is shaping up as more severe than usual, as a Super El Nino wreaks devastation across Central America, in the form of historic droughts and flooding.

Meteorologists also issued Polo-related warnings of heavy rain and flooding in parts of 10 US states including Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Colorado. Several of the states are experiencing drought.

In addition to Polo, meteorologists are monitoring Rachel, a tropical storm also brewing in the Pacific off Mexico that is expected to run parallel to the coast and is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane mid-week.

D.Gu--SG