Hurricane Polo Strikes Baja California, Poised for Second Mexican Landfall

Hurricane Polo officially made landfall along the coast of Baja California overnight Sunday, marking the first of two hits the storm is expected to deliver on Mexican soil. Officials anticipate the system will make a second landfall on the mainland of Mexico early Tuesday morning.

The hurricane slammed into the Baja California Peninsula near Las Barrancas as a Category 2 storm, generating dangerous wind speeds between 96 and 110 mph. Shortly after crossing the shoreline around 11 p.m. local time, Polo weakened to a Category 1 intensity as it traversed the peninsula and began moving toward the Sonora region.

As of early Monday, there were no immediate reports of casualties or significant structural damage. However, residents such as Juan Manuel Sarabia in Puerto San Carlos were seen securing their homes with board-ups ahead of the storm’s arrival.

Polo originally formed as a Pacific hurricane on September 20, distinguishing itself as one of three simultaneous hurricanes to develop in the Pacific basin that month.

While the storm itself moves inland, its impact is already being felt thousands of miles away. Near-record moisture levels from the Pacific, driven by Polo’s strong flow, are expected to merge with an existing storm system over the United States later Tuesday. This convergence threatens to supercharge precipitation across a vast area.

ABC News Chief Meteorologist Ginger Zee noted that more than 30 million people across at least a dozen states are under flood watches on Tuesday. The affected areas stretch from California and Texas up to Iowa.

Urgent flash flood warnings were already active overnight in Utah and Arizona. In Zion National Park, the Virgin River and Heaps Canyon experienced significant flooding on Monday night. Additionally, water rescues were conducted in Bullhead City, Arizona, on Monday evening after a vehicle became trapped in rising waters.