Hurricane Newton on path toward Mexico’s border with Arizona

“Newton pounding Baja California Sur with hurricane-force winds and heavy rains”, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said early Tuesday, noting that the storm was packing 90 miles per hour winds and the eye of the storm was over the town of Cabo San Lucas at the time of the update.

A shrimp boat capsized in rough seas in the Gulf of California, killing two people and leaving three others missing, authorities said.

Police said five people were arrested for trying to loot two convenience stores in Los Cabos.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Newton has made landfall on Mexico’s mainland and weakened to a tropical storm on its way to the U.S. border with potentially risky rains for Arizona and New Mexico. The storm could bring potentially unsafe rains to parts of the country.

The current forecast has Newton entering the United States just west of Nogales Arizona sometime Wednesday afternoon.

From there, Newton weakened to a tropical storm. Tropical storm conditions are possible over parts of southeastern Arizona late Wednesday.

A flash flood watch is still in effect for all of Southern Arizona until 5 p.m., and a wind advisory remains in place, particularly for higher terrain in Santa Cruz and western Cochise County.

Another difference from Newton is the fact that Nora was stronger (Category 4) when it was in the Eastern Pacific before it started interacting with the Baja Peninsula, he said.

Local airports closed late Monday, while small boats were barred from using the ports in case of a storm surge in low-lying areas areas. But there was calm in the city as firefighters cleaned refuse from the streets during the day, and there were no reported casualties on land.

It first hit the famous resort of Cabo San Lucas, dumping heavy rain and damaging homes, hotels and shops.

Around 14,000 tourists remained holed up in their hotel rooms as winds battered the resort.

“You know, it could have been a lot worse and I think we are very fortunate that it wasn’t as bad as Odile”, said Darlene Savord, a tourist from California.