Hurricane Polo strikes Mexico as first Pacific hurricane of 2026 season
Hurricane Polo made landfall in Mexico's Baja California Sur as a Category 3 hurricane, becoming the first Pacific hurricane of the 2026 season to reach land. The storm knocked out power, damaged coastal defences, and forced around 6,000 residents to evacuate from the fishing town of Puerto San Carlos. Unusually warm ocean waters linked to El Nino had intensified the hurricane's strength.
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Hurricane Polo made landfall on Mexico's Baja California peninsula as a Category 3 storm, cutting power and breaching coastal defences as it became the first Pacific hurricane of the 2026 season to reach land. Waves and storm surge damaged sand barriers in the fishing town of Puerto San Carlos, flooding streets as the settlement's roughly 6,000 residents prepared for the hurricane's arrival.
Military personnel went door to door encouraging residents of wooden homes to evacuate. However, some residents refused to leave their homes. Salvador Palma, a longtime resident, chose to stay, saying he had successfully weathered previous storms. The US National Hurricane Center reported that Polo's intensity had been amplified by unusually warm waters in the equatorial Pacific, a condition linked to the El Nino phenomenon.
Authorities cut power to parts of the peninsula before the storm's arrival and warned of continued flooding and hurricane-force winds as Polo moved across the region.
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