MOSCOW, September 15 (RIA Novosti) – Hurricane Odile has made landfall at the southern most tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, hitting the resort area with powerful winds and heavy rains, the National Hurricane Center of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's weather service reported Monday.
"Satellite imagery indicates that the center of Odile made landfall at about 9:45pm PDT [04:45 GMT]… near Cabo San Lucas Mexico. The estimated intensity of Odile at landfall was 125 mph (205 km/h)," the National Hurricane Center said in a bulletin, adding that Odile is "category three on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale."
The center predicts that Odile will produce "significant coastal flooding in areas of onshore winds in the hurricane warning area."
"Swells from Odile will affect portions of the southwestern coast of Mexico during the next couple of days," the center predicts.
Odile has prompted Mexico to issue a red alert along the coastline of the Baja California peninsula as well as on the mainland.
Ports and beaches have been closed, and school classes and celebrations for Mexico's Independence Day were canceled in Mexico's Baja California Sur state.
Mexican Independence Day is celebrated on September 16.
Odile will weaken as it moves up the western side of the Baja California peninsula later this week and will deteriorate into a depression, the weakest form of a tropical storm, according to the National Hurricane Center.
