MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Category 4 Hurricane Hilary was rushing toward Mexico’s Baja California peninsula on Friday morning, threatening to bring “significant flooding” to parts of the region as well as the Southwestern United States, a U.S. government agency said.
Hilary was moving west-northwest at nearly 13 miles (20 km) per hour, packing maximum sustained winds of nearly 145 mph (230 kmh), after being upgraded to a Category 4 overnight, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory.
Hilary will still be a hurricane when it approaches the west coast of Baja California over the weekend, but is expected to weaken to a tropical storm before reaching Southern California on Sunday afternoon, it added.
A storm surge could produce coastal flooding and destructive waves along the western Baja California peninsula of Mexico, the agency added.
Rainfall of 3 to 6 inches (7.6 to 15 cm) is expected across portions of Southern California and southern Nevada, which “would lead to significant and rare impacts.”
(Reporting by Valentine Hilaire; Editing by Isabel Woodford and Jonathan Oatis)
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