US meteorologists have warned that Hurricane Hillary has weakened as it approaches Mexico’s Pacific coast but could still cause “life-threatening” flooding.
The National Hurricane Center says it is now a Category 1 storm, with sustained winds of 100 mph (175 km/h). Hillary is scheduled to make landfall later Saturday.
The NHC is already reporting heavy rain in parts of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula and the southwestern United States.
Hillary will weaken to a tropical storm before reaching Southern California.
It will be the first tropical storm to hit a US state in more than 80 years.
In its latest update at 21:00 GMT on Saturday, the NHC said the hurricane is now about 285 miles (459 km) southeast of Punta Eugenia, the westernmost point in Baja California.
“Hillary appears to be weakening rapidly,” John Cangialosi, a senior hurricane expert at the NHC, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency on Saturday.
“The eye is filling and the cloud top and rain bands in the eyewall have been warming over the past several hours,” he added.
Hillary was previously a powerful Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 130 mph.
Rainfall could reach 10in (25cm) in parts of southern California and southern Nevada, the NHC says. “Devastating flooding is expected,” it added.
In San Diego, the National Weather Service (NWS) earlier issued a warning for “high potential” for flooding. About 26 million people in the southwestern United States were under a flood watch.
On Friday, US President Joe Biden said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had “personnel and equipment already deployed in the region.
“I urge everyone in the path of the storm to take precautions and listen to the guidance of state and local officials,” he said.
