Hurricane Norma hits Mexico coast, then weakens to tropical storm

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico: Hurricane Norma slammed into Mexico´s northwestern coast on Saturday afternoon, bringing heavy rain and the threat of flash floods, but was downgraded to a tropical storm by evening, authorities said.

The storm came ashore about 25-km northwest of the resort city of Cabo San Lucas on the Baja California coast, gradually weakening as it approached land. Norma was moving northeast at 9 kph, packing winds of up to 110 kph, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported at 0000 GMT.

Norma was expected to bring rainfall of up to 45 centimeters (18 inches), producing “flash and urban flooding, along with mudslides in areas of higher terrain,” the NHC said. “Heavy rains and flash flooding to continue through the weekend,” it said.

“Life-threatening surf and rip current conditions” would affect the coast of southwestern and west-central Mexico and Baja California Sur for the next couple of days. Fueled by warm Pacific waters, Norma had intensified to a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, and was still a Category 1 when making landfall, before weakening.