Dangerous surf, heavy rains hit Mexico as Hurricane Polo tracks offshore

Heavy surf and rain lashed southwestern Mexico ​as "extremely powerful" Hurricane Polo crawls northwest ​offshore the mainland, the US ‌National Hurricane ​Center (NHC) said in a bulletin on Thursday. With maximum sustained winds near 160 miles per hour (260 kph), Polo ‌is a Category 5 storm, the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson scale. It could see some near-term strengthening and is expected to remain a major hurricane for the ‌next few days, said the NHC.

The NHC said that Polo's outer rainbands are ‌spreading onshore and producing heavy rains. Tropical-storm-force winds are likely occurring along the coast of southwestern Mexico, it said. Polo's hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 40 miles (65 km) from the center and ⁠tropical-storm-force ​winds extend outward up ⁠to 125 miles (205 km).

Rainfall totals of 4 inches to 6 inches (102 mm to 152 mm), with ⁠isolated maximum totals up to 8 inches, are expected across coastal areas of Mexico's Guerrero ​state on the Pacific coast through Thursday, possibly triggering life-threatening flooding and mudslides. Coastal ⁠areas of the Mexican states of Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco are also forecast to experience heavy ⁠rains, ​while swells generated by Polo will affect portions of the coast of southwestern Mexico during the next couple of days.

"These swells are likely to cause ⁠life-threatening surf, rip currents, and coastal flooding," said the NHC. Polo is expected to remain ⁠offshore of southwestern ⁠Mexico on Thursday before moving further out to sea and is expected to approach the Baja California Peninsula early next week ‌as ‌a hurricane.