After striking Mexico, Polo weakened as it moved east, sending inches of rain toward the U.S. Southwest.
PUERTO SAN CARLOS, BCS — Hurricane Polo battered Mexico’s western coast Tuesday, flooding coastal communities and knocking down trees before its rain-soaked remnants moved toward the U.S. Southwest, where saturated ground was already fueling flooding concerns.
Polo made landfall in Baja California Sur during the morning with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph. After crossing the Gulf of California, the storm weakened into a tropical storm as it pushed inland and northeast. Its remnants were forecast to reach the United States by Tuesday night.
Forecasters warned that north-central New Mexico, including Albuquerque and Santa Fe, could see the heaviest impacts. Rainfall totals of 3 to 4 inches were possible through Wednesday, with higher amounts in some locations.
The threat followed storms that swept across parts of the Southwest late Monday and early Tuesday, leaving the soil saturated and increasing the potential for more serious flooding.
Southwest US sees heavy rains, floods
Rain bands continued moving through the Southwest, swelling desert rivers and turning normally dry arroyos into fast-moving channels of floodwater. Flood watches covered nearly the entire region as a broad tropical weather system, fueled primarily by Polo, advanced northeast from Mexico.
“Definitely looking at the chances for urban flooding,” said Carter Greulich, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Albuquerque. He urged residents not to drive across flooded roads and to stay away from arroyos, particularly in populated areas.
The storm system moved quickly through Phoenix early Tuesday, dropping as much as 2 inches of rain before conditions began to ease. North of the city, floodwater swept a truck into a wash near New River. Maricopa County sheriff’s officials said the driver escaped safely.
The rugged desert landscape typically receives fewer than 10 inches of rain a year and has little vegetation to absorb heavy precipitation, leaving the area especially vulnerable to sudden flash floods.
Near Utah’s Zion National Park, the East Fork of the Virgin River churned with muddy brown water. A shipping container was seen being carried downstream by the powerful current.
In Orderville, Utah, where flooding began Monday night, Sabrina Dubay was driving home when her partner called and warned her to keep her distance.
“The river came in and swept around the entirety of our house,” Dubay said. Her partner told her, “We’re about to lose everything.”
Floodwaters carried away a camper, a snowmobile trailer and other belongings from Dubay’s yard. As water continued rising around the home, neighbors and friends worked together to dig a trench intended to divert the flow.
“It was coming in through our front doors,” she said.
Southern New Mexico also reported flooding. An unusually wet September had already left much of the region waterlogged, meaning additional rainfall had little room to soak into the ground and instead flowed rapidly across the surface.
“Runoff is likely going to start much quicker and lead to those flooding impacts quicker,” Greulich said.
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Forecasters said the flooding threat would spread into parts of the central United States late Tuesday and Wednesday. Beginning Wednesday night, widespread heavy rain was expected across the Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio areas, where life-threatening flash flooding could develop, particularly in low-lying locations.
Flood watches remained in effect through Thursday for portions of west Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. Some areas could receive as much as 5 inches of rain.
‘We were lucky’
Hurricane Polo slammed Baja California Sur with damaging winds and torrential rain as it came ashore.
After Polo swept over the small fishing community of Puerto San Carlos on the Baja California peninsula, residents moved through ankle-deep water and around fallen trees as flooding reached some homes. Relief spread through the town when residents saw that much of the community had survived the storm better than feared.
Shopkeeper Elbia María Bachomo, 40, picked through furniture strewn through her home. She and her three children had gathered their clothes quickly and left for a shelter Monday as water began flooding into their home.
Her husband was out on the water fishing for sardines when Polo hit. Bachomo said he was fortunate to escape alive.
“I thought, ‘Oh no, what are we going to come back to? We will be left with nothing.’ But we were lucky,” she said.
Polo was expected to produce 6 to 12 inches of rain across parts of Baja California Sur.
About 700 people remained in shelters Tuesday. But they were expected to return to their homes, and no serious damage or deaths were immediately reported, according to authorities.
Meanwhile, the hurricane center reported Tropical Storm Rachel was moving parallel to Mexico’s coast early Tuesday. The storm was about 265 miles southwest of Lazaro Cardenos with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph. It was moving west-northwest at 13 mph.
Pacific storm activity greater than normal this season
In the central Pacific Ocean, Hurricane Nolo remained a dangerous Category 3 hurricane on Tuesday as it edged away from Hawaii after drenching parts of the Big Island over the weekend.
The hurricane was approaching Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, a marine conservation area, according to the hurricane center.
Pacific storm activity has been above average this year. That’s consistent with El Niño years.
Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Eduardo Verdugo in Puerto San Carlos, Mexico, Julie Walker in New York, Mead Gruver in Fort Collins, Colorado, Mikella Schuettler in Phoenix, Sarah Raza in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Eugene Garcia and Gregory Bull in Hilo, Hawaii, contributed to this report.
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