Sawt Falasteen - Flooding, power cuts and evacuations as Hurricane Polo slams Mexico

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

Polo was on the cusp of tearing across the south of Baja California with heavy rain and hurricane-force winds, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

Mexican authorities ordered residents to take shelter.

Strong winds churned the sea and waves 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.

Military personnel went door to door in Puerto San Carlos urging residents to evacuate their modest wooden homes.

Salvador Palma wasn't budging. "I've always stayed here during hurricanes and nothing has ever happened to me. I trust in God, he said.

"I feel safer here with my family" of seven, he said.

- 'Life-threatening winds' -

On Monday afternoon Polo was packing sustained winds of 185 kilometers per hour (115 mph), the NHC said, warning of life-threatening winds and flash flooding across parts of Baja California Sur.

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.

The storm hammering the sprawling peninsula is forecast to cross the Gulf of California and lash mainland Mexico as a hurricane early Tuesday before its remnants push waterlogged air up into the US Southwest and central plains.

Meteorologists have issued Polo-related warnings of heavy rain and flooding in parts of 10 US states including Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Colorado. Several of the states are experiencing drought.

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 has 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.

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 is expected to run parallel to the coast and is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane mid-week.

T.Ibrahim--SF-PST