MEXICO CITY, Sept 1 – Tropical Storm Lidia bore down on the plush Mexican resort area of Los Cabos Thursday, dumping torrential rains on a wide swath of the country and prompting officials to evacuate residents. Lidia formed Wednesday in the Pacific Ocean and was already wreaking havoc along the coast and as far inland as Mexico City ahead of its expected landfall Thursday night at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.

That area’s pristine, turquoise-water beaches are home to the strip of luxury resorts known as Los Cabos, which draws more than a million tourists each year. In Mexico City, a huge downpour caused by Lidia triggered a huge cave-in on a central street Thursday, opening a gaping hole at least 10m wide and seven metres deep just steps from one of the city’s most iconic thoroughfares, Paseo de la Reforma.

On Wednesday night, the international airport in the capital cancelled 18 flights and diverted 40 arriving planes – including one carrying Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was on her way to give a speech but found herself temporarily diverted to Cancun, some 1,600km away.

Lidia was about 30km southwest of Cabo San Lucas, with maximum sustained winds of 100km per hour, the US National Hurricane Centre said in an update at 2100 GMT (5am Malaysia). It said the storm would sweep over the Baja California peninsula through Friday night.

“We have already started evacuations” in the state of Baja California Sur, national emergency response coordinator Luis Felipe Puente told TV network Milenio on Wednesday night. The head of the national water commission, Roberto Ramirez de la Parra, warned of torrential rains in seven western states stretching more than half the length of Mexico, and waves up to six metres high off the coast of Baja California and Sinaloa, in the north. — AFP

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