Police patrol Malecon of Loreto as Hurricane Polo approaches Baja California Sur, in Loreto, Mexico, September 28, 2026. <\/p>\n
Raquel Cunha | Reuters<\/p>\n
Hurricane Polo made landfall in the southern half of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula in \u2060the early hours of Tuesday with gusts of up to 200 \u200bkm\/h (125 mph).<\/p>\n
Authorities expected \u200blife-threatening hurricane \u200bconditions to continue across Baja California Sur for several hours, while weather conditions were expected to deteriorate in the \u2060south \u200cof the mainland state of Sonora.<\/p>\n
Polo \u2060hit land as a category 2 hurricane south of Las Barrancas, halfway down the state’s west coast, a zone far less populated \u200cthan the Los Cabos resort corridor at the southern tip of the peninsula.<\/p>\n
Mexico’s National Weather \u200bService said it had brought sustained winds of 150 to 170 km\/h with gusts of 180 to 200 km\/h and waves 7 to \u20609 meters high.<\/p>\n
The storm was expected to dump 6 to \u200c12 inches (15 to 30 cm) of \u200crain across Baja California Sur, with a risk of life-threatening flooding and mudslides, according to the US National Hurricane Center.<\/p>\n
Polo \u2060is still expected to be a hurricane at \u2060its second landfall in mainland Mexico, after \u2060crossing the Gulf of California.<\/p>\n
Both Mexican authorities and the NHC urged residents to remain safe indoors \u200bthrough the morning, either \u200cat their homes or in temporary shelters opened up in high-risk areas.<\/p>\n
Residents of the towns in Polo’s path packed supermarkets over the weekend to buy essential products while \u200bbusiness owners boarded up doors and \u200cwindows in anticipation of the storm.<\/p>\n