Oct 8, 2008 2:55 pm US/Pacific
Norbert Turns Into Category 4 Storm Off Mexico
MEXICO CITY (AP) ―
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The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Norbert will likely turn toward the northeast over the next two days en route to the Baja peninsula and Mexican mainland. (File)
WBZ
Hurricane Norbert strengthened Wednesday into a powerful Category 4 storm off Mexico's Pacific coast as it churned on a path expected to take it over the southern half of the Baja California peninsula this weekend.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Norbert will likely turn toward the northeast over the next two days en route to the Baja peninsula and Mexican mainland. Officials across the region were setting up shelters and preparing for possible evacuations from low-lying regions.
The storm had maximum sustained winds near 135 mph (215 kph) and was moving west-northwest at near 9 mph (15 kph), the hurricane center said. It was expected to reach a relatively unpopulated stretch of coast well north of Cabo San Lucas before dawn Saturday.
With the sun peaking through clouds Wednesday, Baja residents were waiting to see what the storm would do before preparing.
"Everything is very calm right now. Only a sporadic shower or two," said Elizabeth Guillien, manager of Hotel Conquistador in Ciudad Constitucion, a town in the southern peninsula.
Norbert is the seventh hurricane of the east Pacific season.
Further south, a tropical depression formed Wednesday off Central America's Pacific coast, near the El Salvador-Nicaragua border. Maximum sustained winds were near 35 mph (55 kph.)
The depression was dumping rain across Central America as it headed toward Mexico's southern coastline. Forecasters warned it could cause mudslides.
And in Mexico's Gulf coast, Tropical Storm Marco was a rain shower Wednesday after slamming into land with near hurricane-force winds and leaving flooding in its wake.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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