MEXICO CITY — Ileana has weakened to a tropical depression, the National Hurricane Center said Sunday.
The tropical storm formed off Mexico’s Pacific coast Thursday as it moved toward land, making landfall on the coast of the Mexican state of Sinaloa on Saturday, a day after hitting the resort-studded city of Los Cabos.
On Sunday, wind speeds dropped to 35 mph, NOAA said in an advisory, as Ileana was located about 30 miles southwest of Los Mochis, Mexico, and moving west-northwest at 2 mph. It also forecast the storm will become a remnant depression — a post-tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds below 34 knots.
As of Friday, a warning was in effect for parts of the Baja California peninsula, including Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo.
Juan Manuel Arce Ortega, of the Civil Protection of Los Cabos, said that the municipalities of La Paz and Los Cabos had suspended classes in schools due to the storm.
Authorities have prepared 20 temporary shelters in San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, according to the Los Cabos Civil Protection.
At the Hacienda Beach Club and Residences in Cabo San Lucas, valet Alan Galvan said the rain arrived late Thursday night and has been steady. “The rain is not very heavy right now, but the waves are rough,” he said.
“The customers are very calm and have already come down for coffee,” Galvan said. “Some flights have been cancelled, but everything is fine for now.”
Rain remained steady in Los Cabos Friday afternoon, with several roads flooded and some resorts piling sandbags around their perimeters. Some people were still walking around the docks with their umbrellas.
“The priority must be safety, starting with that of the workers. We must always monitor our colleagues who live in risk areas,” explains Lyzzette Liceaga, a tour operator in Los Cabos.
As of Friday, Ileana was the only active tropical storm in the National Weather Service’s eastern Pacific basin. In the Atlantic basin, Post-Tropical Cyclone Francine was bringing heavy rain to parts of the southern United States, and Tropical Storm Gordon formed Friday in the Atlantic Ocean, which forecasters predict will remain over open water for several days.
