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Hurricane threatens Mexican coast Mexico coast braced for hurricane
(about 19 hours later)
A hurricane which has already brought flooding to Mexico's Pacific coast has strengthened into a category four storm, forecasters say. Mexico's Pacific coast is braced for a category four hurricane which could develop into a category five, the top danger rating for a hurricane.
Hurricane Jimena, which is now rated as extremely dangerous, is moving slowly north-west, roughly parallel to the coast, meteorologists say. By Monday afternoon, Hurricane Jimena had maximum sustained winds of nearly 250km/h (155mph).
On Sunday afternoon it had maximum winds of nearly 140mph (220 km/h). It is set to reach the Baja California peninsula on Tuesday and move inland.
Experts say it is on course to reach Mexico's Baja California peninsula by late Monday or early Tuesday. An international finance conference due to open in the resort of Los Cabos on the peninsula has been switched inland to Mexico City instead.
Richard Pasch, of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, said it was difficult to predict how strong the hurricane would be when it neared the peninsula. In La Paz, the southern capital of Baja California, residents rushed to board up windows and buy groceries before shops closed their doors as rain blew in, AFP news agency reports.
But he added: "I think it's going to be a substantial hurricane by the time it approaches." The US National Hurricane Center warned of a "storm surge along with large and dangerous battering waves" which could "produce significant coastal flooding along the Baja California peninsula".
One of the towns in its path is the resort of Los Cabos, where the Paris-based Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development is due to hold a conference on Tuesday. It said "preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion".
It was not clear if the conference would still take place. The peninsula is largely desert and mountains but includes resorts and fishing villages.
US tourist Beverly Boyer said she planned to cut short her holiday in Los Cabos and fly home on Monday. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) conference on tax havens had been due to take place in Los Cabos on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"I am nervous and frightened. This is a category four storm that is going to hit," she said. It was "transferred to Mexico City because of the threat of severe damage posed by Hurricane Jimena", the OECD said.
On Sunday, authorities in Cabo Corrientes, a coastal town in the Mexican state of Jalisco, were setting up shelters in case of heavier wind and rain. Francisco Cota, the head of the civil protection agency in Los Cabos, said any evacuation plan would focus on densely populated areas and valleys at most risk of flooding.
"It will place special emphasis on the more than 20,000 families who live in high-risk areas," he was quoted as saying by AFP.