The China Mail - Flooding, power cuts as Hurricane Polo slams Mexico

The Category 3 storm is the first hurricane of this year's season to make landfall, turbo-charged by the El Nino weather phenomenon which has caused unprecedented warming in the equatorial Pacific.

It was forecast to hit the south of Baja California at around 4:00 pm local time (2300 GMT), according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Authorities ordered residents to take shelter.

Strong winds churned the sea off Puerto San Carlos, a small fishing port of nearly 6,000 people in Baja California Sur state that lies in Polo's path.

AFP reporters noted that the sea had already breached several sections of a sand barrier, causing water to pour into the street.

The town's power supply was cut and palm trees swayed violently in the wind.

Juan Manuel Sarabia had boarded up the facade of his home and reinforced it with wooden beams.

"It's coming with full force," the 53-year-old whale-watching and fishing guide told AFP.

This year's Pacific hurricane season is shaping up as more severe than usual, as a Super El Nino -- an extreme version of a recurring weather pattern -- wreaks devastation, in the form of historic droughts and flooding.

Polo is expected to hammer Baja California peninsula and also lash mainland Mexico as a hurricane early Tuesday before weakening, according to the NHC.

It was packing sustained winds of 185 kilometers per hour (115 mph), the NHC said, warning of "life-threatening winds and flash flooding now beginning" across Baja California Sur.

The head of Mexico's meteorological service, Fabian Vazquez, said storm surges and heavy rains could cause "very severe" damage.

Some 169 shelters have been opened across Baja California Sur.

At one high school near the sea, shopkeeper Maria Palomino was preparing to ride out the storm on a mattress on the floor.

"If something happens, it's better to come to the shelter," the 57-year-old said. "We'll be among people we know."

Only a handful of homes and businesses in the town were boarded up or sandbagged against flooding.

A passing police officer told AFP he believed the entire town should have been forced to evacuate.

"Everything is going to flood," he said.

- 'It will be tough' -

Margarita Diaz and her family ultimately opted to hunker down at home in Puerto San Carlos, behind windows sealed only with blue masking tape.

"It will be tough, but I have faith in God," Diaz said.

The military have deployed nearly 7,000 troops in the state, where classes were suspended and public servants have been ordered to work from home, where possible.

Laura Velazquez, National Coordinator of Civil Protection, said all maritime activities were suspended in the area, as well as access to beaches.

El Nino raises surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean and causes global changes in winds and rainfall.

In addition to Polo, meteorologists are monitoring Rachel, a tropical storm also brewing in the Pacific off Mexico that has the potential to strengthen into a hurricane.

"It will move parallel to the coast of Mexico all week, but right towards the weekend it could also start moving towards Baja California Sur," Vazquez said.

B.Chan--ThChM