Cabo San Lucas (Mexico) (AFP) - States across the typically arid US southwest braced on Sunday for torrential rain and potentially life-threatening flooding, as Hurricane Hilary barreled up Mexico’s coast, where authorities reported at least one fatality.

At its peak, Hilary reached Category 4 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, but it was expected to weaken to a tropical storm before reaching southern California on Sunday afternoon, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

On Sunday morning it was a Category 1 hurricane packing sustained winds of around 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour as it moved north just off Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, the NHC said.

“Catastrophic and life-threatening flooding likely over Baja California and portions of the southwestern US through Monday,” the US government agency warned.

One person died in Mexico after a vehicle was swept away by a rising stream, Mexico’s Civil Protection agency said in a statement on Saturday, while warning of landslides and road closures in Baja California.

Hilary was expected to track inland and north over the next day or two, depositing up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain on parts of Mexico, California and Nevada, according to the NHC.

Tornadoes were possible in parts of the Colorado River Valley, Mojave Desert and Imperial Valley, it said.

The US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has deployed teams to areas in Hilary’s path, while California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for much of the state’s southern area.

Nancy Ward, director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said Hilary could be one of the worst storms to hit the state in more than a decade.

“Make no mistake,” she told a press conference Saturday. “This is a very, very dangerous and significant storm.”

- ‘Waiting for the weather’ -

As large waves crashed ashore and winds lashed the Mexican tourist resort of Cabo San Lucas on Saturday, residents and workers put up protective boarding and laid thousands of sandbags.

Military personnel were seen patrolling the beach, a popular destination for both Mexican and foreign tourists.

“We took all the precautionary measures last night,” Omar Olvera told AFP at the Cabo San Lucas beachfront restaurant where he works.

With sandbags piled protectively around the restaurant, he said, “We’re just looking out for the workers and waiting for the weather to come.”

Streets in the town of Todos Santos, on the west coast of the peninsula, were largely deserted Saturday while the nearby beach in Los Cerritos was closed due to rough waves.

“Last night, we felt the wind picking up; it wasn’t as strong as we were expecting but it still caused us to worry,” said Marco Segura, a 57-year-old worker in Los Cerritos.

The Mexican government deployed almost 19,000 soldiers in the states most affected by the storm, while the federal electric utility sent 800 workers and hundreds of vehicles to respond to any outages.

US President Joe Biden, who was at a rented vacation home with his family on Lake Tahoe along the California-Nevada border, was briefed Saturday by senior staff on preparations for the storm, the White House said.

Biden and his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, are planning to visit Hawaii on Monday to survey wildfire damage as recovery operations continue.

In San Diego, the US Navy said ships and submarines would be heading out to sea ahead of the storm’s arrival.

Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer have rescheduled games planned for Sunday in the US region.

Hurricanes hit Mexico every year on both its Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Although the storms sometimes affect California, it is rare for them to strike the state with much intensity.

US authorities urged people to take the dangers seriously.

“Hurricane Hilary is going to be a serious impact and threat to southern California,” FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said on CNN.

“We have to also look at what is the change in the climate doing to these severe weather events. What is the risk going to look like into the future,” she added.

Scientists have warned that storms are becoming more powerful as the world gets warmer with climate change.