Flights out of Cabo have been canceled as Hurricane Jimena’s force slams Baja today, with people boarding up windows and preparing for the worst to come.
“Everyone is in a panic down there with mile long lines for gas, buying up all the bottled water,” said chief forecaster of Surfline.com Sean Collins, who got out on the last departing flight Monday night.
Collins headed down there to get the swell before the storm hit. Waves got up to 12-feet before he left, and he said the surf was about 15 to 20 feet today.
Hurricane Jimena is considered a category 4, with 145 mph winds was to hit northern Baja. Read more from the National Weather Service here.
The storm will be sweeping within 100 miles west of Cabo, and will send winds 30 to 70 knots and higher, Collins said.
“It’s going to be windy as hell, with a ton of rain. You want to make sure you’re not on the bottom floor, and not in a shack in the riverbed, as you read this blog on your Iphone,” he said jokingly.
Collins said there’s a large migrant construction community there to help build up the resort town, and they camp out in the riverbeds. They often ignore warnings to leave, for fear of losing their belongings. Flash floods from this storm could cause dangerous situations for them.
“It could be the biggest storm Cabo has seen in a long time,” he said.
Check out a blog Sciencedude had Monday about cruise ship delays because of the storm.
Here’s some photos Collins took from clean morning conditions, and just as he was leaving the area:
If you can’t seem to find many old school core surf shops in this neck of the woods these days, then check this out.
