Powerful Hurricane Polo drenches Mexico's coast as Nolo takes aim at Hawaii
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Residents along Mexico’s west coast stacked sandbags to fortify beachfront shops and evacuated their homes while Hawaii’s Big Island and Maui braced for potentially catastrophic flooding, as two separate storms swirled in the Pacific on Thursday.
Heavy rains from powerful Hurricane Polo could cause life-threatening flooding and landslides in Mexico, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. In places like the port city of Lazaro Cardenas, seawater swept through homes Thursday and left wooden planks and furniture strewn on the streets.
Polo has gone back and forth between Category 4 and 5, both major-hurricane strength. The strongest winds were expected to remain offshore as the storm’s center skirts the coast before moving out to sea.
Far off the southern tip of Hawaii’s Big Island, Tropical Storm Nolo was gathering strength and forecasters expect hurricane conditions to hit the state Friday night. Rains could dump more than 2 feet (60 centimeters) across islands still recovering from a string of storms. Schools were closed for the rest of the week.
The series of hurricanes comes as the weather phenomenon El Niño prompts major environmental shifts across the world, fueling drought in some areas and flooding in others. El Niño traditionally dampens the Atlantic hurricane season, while it tends to rev up tropical cyclone activity in the Pacific with moist air and little wind shear.
Mexican authorities were opening shelters and clearing people from beaches, while coastal residents tried to protect businesses from getting swept away. People in high-risk areas were being evacuated.
Much of the worry from locals came from hurricanes in past years that devastated cities along the Pacific coast. Hurricane Otis in 2023 unexpectedly plunged Acapulco into turmoil for weeks.
“So many people said it wouldn’t happen and then it did. After that, you’re left on edge,” said Gonzalo Ramírez, a bartender in the city.
Guerrero state was particularly at risk of flooding and mudslides, the hurricane center said. Tropical-storm-force winds stretched up to 125 miles (205 kilometers) from the eye of the storm. After heading away from land, Polo was forecast to hook back toward Mexico's coast further north on Saturday.
The hurricane posed the biggest threat to the rural and mountainous coast of Michoacan and Guerrero, which is scattered with small tourist towns and ports. Much of the area is marked by poverty and residents routinely complain they are left to fend for themselves during natural disasters.
Mexican authorities have deployed 15,000 security personnel across the coast and suspended schools as a precaution. Authorities didn’t immediately say how many people had been evacuated.
Forecasters said Tropical Storm Nolo might grow into a major hurricane and could drop 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain on the Big Island, with even higher amounts possible through Saturday.
The island of Maui could also be hit with life-threatening floods and mudslides, the hurricane center said.
While high winds are expected, the main concern is flash flooding, said John Bravender, a weather service warning coordination meteorologist, during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
The heavy rainfall coming to the Big Island could impact the same southeastern region hit hard in August by Hurricane Lala.
“That by itself could cause catastrophic flooding, but when you put that on top of grounds that we’ve been raining off and on for the last couple of months … that rain could cause even more damage,” Bravender said.
Hawaii officials told residents to put together emergency kits and the governor issued an emergency proclamation, activating more than 230 Hawaii National Guard members.
Hawaiian Electric, the state’s primary utility, said crews that had been assisting Kauai restore power after this month’s Hurricane Lowell would return to Oahu, Maui and the Big Island in preparation for the coming storm.
In the northern Atlantic Ocean, Tropical Storm Fay re-formed early Thursday, the U.S. hurricane center said. It was nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) west-southwest of the Azores.
In the Pacific, Hurricane Odalys was centered about 1,110 miles (1,785 kilometers) west-southwest of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.
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Aoun reported from San Diego. Associated Press writer Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.
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