Hurricane Polo drenching Mexico coast as Tropical Storm Nolo nears Hawaii

Residents along Mexico's Pacific coast rushed to pile sandbags against beachfront shops and evacuate threatened homes on Thursday, as a powerful hurricane battered the shoreline with heavy rains and strong winds. At the same time, communities across Hawaii braced for potentially catastrophic flash flooding as a separate tropical system tracked rapidly across the Pacific Ocean toward the islands.

Hurricane Polo has seesawed between Category 4 and 5 major-hurricane strength. The storm poured bands of heavy rain across Mexico's western edge on Thursday, with waves crashing onto pristine beaches as the system tracked along the coast. While the eye and strongest winds were projected to remain offshore, forecasters with the U.S. National Hurricane Center warned that life-threatening flooding and destructive mudslides remained an immediate danger.

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The memory of past disasters hangs heavily over the region. Local residents remain acutely sensitive following previous storms, such as Hurricane Otis in 2023, which unexpectedly plunged Acapulco into weeks of turmoil.

"So many people said it wouldn’t happen and then it did. After that, you’re left on edge"

Gonzalo Ramírez, a bartender in the city

Guerrero state and the mountainous, rural coast of Michoacan face the highest risks. Much of the impacted territory is marked by poverty, where residents frequently report being left to fend for themselves during natural disasters. In response, Mexican authorities deployed 15,000 security personnel across the coast, suspended local schools, and opened emergency shelters while clearing people from high-risk beaches and homes.

Farther west in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Nolo churned a couple hundred miles from the southern tip of Hawaii's Big Island. According to warnings issued by the National Weather Service, Nolo was expected to strengthen into a hurricane by late Thursday, and bring severe hurricane conditions to the island by Friday night. A hurricane watch was promptly established, and local schools were closed through the end of the week.

Forecasters said the storm could drop 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain on the Big Island, with higher amounts possible through Saturday. The island of Maui was also flagged for life-threatening floods. John Bravender, a weather service warning coordination meteorologist, emphasized during a Wednesday news conference that flash flooding represented the primary danger.

“That by itself could cause catastrophic flooding, but when you put that on top of grounds that we’ve been raining off and on for the last couple of months … that rain could cause even more damage,” Bravender said.

Hawaiian officials mobilized quickly to meet the threat. The governor issued an emergency proclamation activating more than 230 members of the Hawaii National Guard, while urging residents to assemble emergency supply kits. Hawaiian Electric announced that utility crews assisting with power restoration on Kauai following Hurricane Lowell earlier in the month would return immediately to Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island to prepare for Nolo's arrival.

Meteorological experts attribute the crowded tropical calendar to the El Niño phenomenon, which is currently driving major environmental shifts worldwide. While El Niño typically suppresses storm development in the Atlantic basin, it frequently revives tropical cyclone activity in the Pacific by providing moist air and minimal wind shear. Alongside Polo, Nolo, and Odalys, the National Hurricane Center noted that Tropical Storm Fay had re-formed in the northern Atlantic, sitting nearly 1,000 miles west-southwest of the Azores.

What to Watch Next

• Hurricane Polo is forecast to remain a major storm while moving further out to sea before potentially turning back to clip Mexico's Baja California as a weakened system on Tuesday.
• Tropical Storm Nolo is expected to complete its transition into a hurricane by late Thursday, ahead of its direct approach to Hawaii's Big Island on Friday night.
• Emergency response teams in both Mexico and Hawaii remain on high alert as torrential rains continue to threaten saturated soils with widespread landslides and flash flooding through the weekend.