Mexico, US brace for Hurricane

MEXICO CITY: Hurricane Rosa was on a track on Sunday to drench northwest Mexico and parts of the US Southwest, prompting tropical storm warnings for the Baja California coast and lash-lood watches for parts of four US states.

The US National Hurricane Center says Rosa should still be at tropical storm force when it hits the Baja California Peninsula and Sonora state on Monday with looding rains.

It’s then expected to move quickly northwestward as it weakens, bringing 5-10cm of rain to the Mogollon Rim of Arizona and 1 to 2.5-5cm to the rest of the desert Southwest, Central Rockies and Great Basin. Some isolated areas might be more. Rosa still had maximum sustained winds of 140kph early Sunday and it was centred about 570km southwest of Punta Eugenia in Mexico. It was heading north at 19kph. The National Weather Service announced lash lood watches through Tuesday for areas including southern Nevada, southeastern California, southwestern and central Utah and the western two-thirds of Arizona.

Forecasts call for heavy rainfall in the watch areas, which include Las Vegas, Phoenix and Salt Lake City, with possible looding in slot canyons and normally dry washes and a potential for debris lows from recent wildire burn scars.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Sergio was growing in the Paciic and could grow to near major-hurricane force within days, though it posed no immediate threat to land.

Sergio had winds of 85kph early Sunday and it was centred about 780km south of Manzanillo, Mexico. The storm was moving west at 19kph.