Hurricane Ignacio's winds batter Baja
Weather service: Storm weakens slightly
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Satellite image of Ignacio taken Sunday at 4:30 p.m. EDT
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(CNN) -- Hurricane Ignacio weakened slightly Sunday but continued to menace Baja California, according to the National Hurricane Center.
In its 11 p.m. EDT advisory, the center reported Ignacio's maximum sustained winds had decreased to 90 mph [144 km/h]. That wind speed makes Ignacio a Category 1 hurricane.
Earlier, the storm's top winds had been near 105 mph [168 km/h], which made it a Category 2 hurricane.
The storm's center was about 70 miles [112 kilometers] east-southeast of La Paz, Mexico, drifting northward at about 4 mph [6 km/h]. That motion is expected to continue for the next 24 hours.
Forecasters expected a gradual turn toward the north-northwest later in the day but were unsure if the Ignacio's center would make landfall or continue to track the peninsula's east coast.
Matthew Goehler, an American living in Cabo Pulmo, about 60 miles north of Baja's tip at San Lucas on the peninsula's east coast, said the 100 residents of the tiny, solar-powered village were busily taking solar panels off their roofs and securing loose items.
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Hurricane Ignacio
At 11 p.m. EDT Sunday
Latitude: 23.9 degrees north
Longitude: 109.3 degrees west Position: 70 miles east-southeast of La Paz, Mexico
Top sustained winds: 90 mph
Next advisory: 2 a.m. EDT
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"It's not raining a terrible amount right now," Goehler told CNN by satellite phone, "but the winds are pretty fast. The ocean's risen probably 30 yards and it's blasting against the homes on the beach."
Asked how far he lived from the beach, Goehler replied, "Right now? About 500 yards."
If Ignacio, the Pacific 2003 season's first hurricane, continues to draw power from the warm waters of the Sea of Cortes without making landfall, forecasters said, the storm "could become significantly stronger."
The Mexican government issued hurricane warnings for the southern Baja California peninsula from south of San Evaristo on the east coast and south of Bahia Magdalena on the west coast. Tropical storm warnings remained in effect from Loreto to San Evaristo and from Puerto San Andresito to Bahia Magdalena.
The center predicted 10 to 15 inches of rainfall in the warning area and said the rains could cause "life-threatening" flash floods and mudslides.
Battering waves could push coastal surge floods to five to seven feet above normal near and to the east of landfall, the hurricane center said.
