September 15, 2014 – Only one story today, our Baja Amigos need your collective prayers and positive thoughts.
Baja California Sur is in a dangerous situation as Odile will continue to bring life-threatening impacts, such as significant flooding and hurricane-force winds, through Tuesday. Odile made landfall near Cabo San Lucas at 9:45 p.m. PDT on Sunday as a Category 3 hurricane, making it the strongest hurricane ever recorded to make landfall in Baja California. Southern portions of Baja California will continue to experience hurricane-force winds and torrential rainfall on Monday as Odile tracks northward. Storm surge will become less of a concern moving forward as Odile weakens and tracks over Baja California.
Mexican authorities have evacuated vulnerable coastal areas and have set up shelters for up to 30,000, according to the Associated Press.
Currently, Hurricane Odile is a Category 3 hurricane located over the southern tip of Baja California Sur with maximum sustained winds of 185 kph (115 mph) and gusts as high as 225 kph (140 mph). The storm had strengthened to a Category 4 early on Sunday morning, but weakened during the afternoon hours.
Odile had estimated winds of 200 kph (127 mph) at landfall. This ties a record for the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Baja California Sur during the satellite era, with Hurricane Olivia in 1967. The southern half of Baja California will experience the worst conditions from Odile on Monday as 200-300 mm (8-12 inches) of rain floods the area. Significant flooding should be expected from the plethora of rain.
Sustained winds of 130-160 kph (80-100 mph) are expected with wind gusts approaching 201 kph (125 mph) and will cause widespread power outages and structural damage.
AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Richard Jaworski warns that “Given Cabo San Lucas’s location on the southern tip of Baja California, risks will not only be confined to flooding rain and damaging wind, but a 6- to 10-foot storm surge will also cause significant coastal flooding.”
Local residents and tourists should expect extended power outages along with loss of basic services. While conditions begin to improve in Cabo San Lucas on Monday, life-threatening conditions will spread northward across central and northern Baja California Sur on Monday and Tuesday.
However as the storm moves northward, impacts are expected to gradually lessen as Odile weakens over progressively cooler water and interacts with land.
Source: ACCUWeather
| Category | Sustained Winds |
|---|---|
| 1 | 74-95 mph 64-82 kts 119-153 km/hr |
| 2 | 96-110 mph 83-95 kts 154-177 km/hr |
| 3 (Major) |
111-129 mph 96-112 kts 178-208 km/hr |
| 4 (Major) |
130-156 mph 113-136 ktst 209-251 km/hr |
| 5 (Major) |
157 mph or higher 137 kts or higher 252 km/hr or higher |
