Hurricane Lorena chugs through northwest Mexico after landfall

MEXICO CITY: Hurricane Lorena advanced on Saturday through the Gulf of California after the Category 1 storm made landfall near the popular Los Cabos beach resort, the Mexican hurricane monitor said.

With maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers (75 miles) per hour, the storm is expected to bring heavy rains to Baja California Sur and the neighboring states of Sonora and Sinaloa as it moves north at 19 kilometers (12 miles) per hour, CONAGUA said.

"Landslides along with river and stream overflows that affect roads and highways could be recorded due to the rains, along with flooding in low-lying areas and saturation of drains in urban sites," the agency wrote in a bulletin.

The US National Hurricane Center, based in Miami, said Lorena is expected to move across the Gulf of California on Saturday and then approach the northwestern coast of mainland Mexico.

In Mexico´s Baja California Sur, state authorities opened shelters, while the government in Sonora state closed several ports.

Mexico´s location makes it vulnerable to hurricanes on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts.