“We took all the precautionary measures last night,” Omar Olvera told AFP on Saturday at the Cabo San Lucas beachfront restaurant where he works.
With sandbags piled protectively around the restaurant, he said, “We’re just looking out for the workers and waiting for the weather to come.”
Streets in the town of Todos Santos, on the west coast of the peninsula, were largely deserted Saturday while the beach in nearby Cerritos was closed due to rough waves.
“Last night we felt the wind picking up, it wasn’t as strong as we were expecting but it still caused us to worry,” said Marco Segura, a 57-year-old worker in Cerritos.
The Mexican government deployed almost 19,000 soldiers in the states most affected by the storm, while the federal electric utility has sent 800 workers and hundreds of vehicles to deal with eventual outages.
In the United States, “rainfall amounts of three to six inches (7-15cm), with isolated amounts of 10 inches (25cm), are expected across portions of southern California and southern Nevada”, the NHC said.
“Dangerous to catastrophic flooding is expected.”
Nancy Ward, director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said Hilary could be one of the worst storms to hit the state in more than a decade.
“Make no mistake,” she was quoted as saying by US media. “This is a very, very dangerous and significant storm.”
Source: CNA
