MEXICO CITY (Reuters)

Hurricane Hilary, now at category four intensity, was rushing toward Mexico’s Baja California peninsula on Friday morning, threatening to bring “significant flooding” to parts of the region as well as the southwestern United States, an American government agency said.

Hilary was moving west-northwest at nearly 20 kilometres/hour, packing maximum sustained winds of nearly 230 kilometres/hour, after being upgraded to a dangerous category four system overnight, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest advisory.

Hilary will still be a hurricane when it approaches the west coast of Baja California over the weekend, but is expected to weaken to a tropical storm before reaching southern California on Sunday afternoon, it added.

A storm surge could produce coastal flooding and destructive waves along the western Baja California peninsula of Mexico, the agency added.

Rainfall of three-to-six inches (7.6 to 15 centimetres) is expected across portions of southern California and southern Nevada, which “would lead to significant and rare impacts.”