Norma is expected to continue weakening over the weekend as it crosses into the Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California.
Hurricane Norma made landfall near the resorts of Los Cabos at the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula on Saturday afternoon. It was downgraded to a tropical storm by Saturday evening, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The hurricane center said Norma, once a Category 4 hurricane, made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 80 mph near el Pozo de Cota, west-northwest of Cabo San Lucas. Norma is expected to continue weakening over the weekend as it crosses into the Sea of Cortez, also known as the Gulf of California.
In its latest advisory, the hurricane center said Norma was 30 miles northeast of Cabo San Lucas, and moving northeast at 6 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph.
Heavy rains and flash flooding were forecast to continue through the weekend for Baja California Sur, the hurricane center said.
While in the Atlantic, Hurricane Tammy was very near Antigua and threatened to batter the islands of the Lesser Antilles.
Earlier on Saturday, businesses in Cabo San Lucas nailed up sheets of plywood over their windows, and government personnel hung up banners warning people not to try to cross gullies and stream beds after Norma regained strength and once again became a major storm Friday.
The hurricane was expected to continue on that path through the evening before turning to the northeast and slowing down through Monday. The forecast track would take a weakened Norma toward the mainland of Mexico’s western Pacific coast as a tropical storm.
Its languid pace raised the possibility of severe flooding. Norma was expected to dump six to 12 inches of rain with a maximum of 18 inches in places across southern Baja California and much of Sinaloa state.
John Cangialosi, a senior specialist at the National Hurricane Center, said the area is vulnerable to rain because it’s a dry region generally.
« Six to 12 inches of rain is what is generally forecast, but there could be pockets of up to 18 inches of rain and we do think that will be the most significant impact that could result in flash and urban flooding and mudslides, » he said.
