World

Hurricane Polo makes landfall on Mexican peninsula

By AAP Newswire

Sep 29, 2026

Hurricane Polo has made landfall on Mexico's Baja California Peninsula with sustained winds of around 175 km/h.

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The Mexican weather service Conagua said on X that the storm struck near the town of Las Barrancas as a category 2 storm.

Authorities urged residents to seek safety and follow civil protection instructions, warning of life-threatening winds, flash floods and heavy rainfall.

The US National Hurricane Center said the storm would cross the peninsula from west to east and reach the Mexican mainland in a somewhat weakened state by Tuesday morning.

Before Polo made landfall, the hurricane caused severe damage in the western Mexican state of Jalisco. Local civil protection authorities said at least two people were killed and three others were reported missing following heavy rainfall and landslides.

The storm at one point intensified to the highest Category 5 off Mexico's Pacific coast.

Further flooding was forecast for parts of the states of Baja California Sur and Sonora due to expected rain.

The particularly strong El Niño climate phenomenon is driving an unusual hurricane season this year.

While nine hurricanes have already formed in the Pacific - three of them reaching the highest category 5 - not a single hurricane has developed in the Atlantic.

The hurricane season ends on November 1.