Mexico’s Baja battens down as Hurricane Newton approaches
CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico — Hurricane Newton soaked Mexico’s western Pacific coast with heavy rain Monday and took aim at Baja California’s twin resorts of Los Cabos, where residents nailed plywood over windows and pulled in fishing boats while preparing for a possible direct hit two years after being slammed by a major storm.
Newton’s maximum sustained winds increased to 90 mph (150 kph) by Monday night, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. The Category 1 storm was centred about 125 miles (200 kilometres) south-southeast of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo and was moving northwest at 16 mph (26 kph) on a forecast path that would bring it near or over the area Tuesday morning.
Officials opened 18 shelters at schools in the two resorts and 38 more in other parts of Baja California Sur state, while warning people against panic buying.
“There is no need for mass buying,” Los Cabos Mayor Arturo de la Rosa Escalante said. “There is enough food and fuel for the next 20 days.”