Hurricane Newton Barrels Toward Mexico Resort

Hurricane Newton barrels toward Mexico resort

LA PAZ, Mexico, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News -6th Sept,2016) - Hurricane Newton swirled toward Mexico's popular northwestern resorts of Los Cabos early Tuesday, prompting authorities to close schools and airports two years after a powerful storm pummeled the region.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that "preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion" in parts of the Baja California peninsula and that Newton would make landfall Tuesday.

The NHC said at 0600 GMT that Newton was packing winds of up to 90 miles (150 kilometers) per hour as it churned some 60 miles southeast of Cabo San Lucas. "On the forecast track, the center of the large eye of Newton should be near or over the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula later this morning," the NHC said.

The government of the state of Baja California Sur opened several shelters with room for 16,000 people after the tropical storm was reclassified as a hurricane.

Some 15,000 tourists are in the region, mostly in Los Cabos, according to Baja California Sur's tourism secretary, Genaro Ruiz Hernandez, who announced that all flights were canceled in the state late Monday.

Authorities also closed ports to small boats in Baja and other parts of the Pacific coast. The Mexican government issued hurricane warnings for the west coast of the state of Baja California Sur as well as Cabo San Lucas in its southern tip, a favored destination of American tourists.

Los Cabos was pummeled in September 2014 by Hurricane Odile, which left six people dead and caused $1 billion in damage. The storm is due to produce up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in several Pacific coast states, which could trigger life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, the center said.