Hurricane Norbert Weakens To Category One

Storm Loses Steam As It Heads For Baja, California

(AP)  Hurricane Norbert has weakened to a Category One storm as it approaches Mexico's Baja, Calif., peninsula.

The National Hurricane Center says the storm's maximum sustained winds have decreased to 90 mph. It is expected to continue to weaken as it turns toward land.

On Thursday afternoon, it was located 370 miles southwest of the southern tip of the peninsula. It is moving northwest at 5 mph. In the state of Baja California Sur, authorities canceled a weekend fishing contest in the coastal town of Todos Santos and changed the arrival dates in Los Cabos of two cruise ships.

Los Cabos Mayor Oscar Nunez late Wednesday urged residents living in makeshift housing and in low-lying areas to prepare to evacuate.

Luis Gonzalez, the state's top civil protection official, said brigades are ready to begin evacuating residents of the towns of Agua Escondida, El Cardonal and Marquez de Leon on Norbert's potential path.

In Ciudad Obregon, across the Sea of Cortez from Baja California, farmers rushed to finish fertilizing their fields before the hurricane hit.

Norbert will likely turn toward the northeast over the next two days en route to the Baja peninsula and the northwestern Mexican mainland, forecasters said.