Tropical Storm Rosa nears Mexico’s Baja California coast

Tropical Storm Rosa neared northwest Mexico where its heavy rains were expected to cause flooding and landslides before drenching parts of the U.S. Southwest.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Rosa, which was a hurricane until late Sunday, should hit the Baja California Peninsula and Sonora state late Monday.

It’s then expected to move quickly northwestward as it weakens, bringing 2 to 4 inches (5-10 centimeters) of rain to the Mogollon Rim of Arizona and 1 to 2 inches (2.5-5 centimeters) to the rest of the desert Southwest, Central Rockies and Great Basin. Some isolated areas might be more.

Rosa had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph) Sunday night and was centered about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southwest of Punta Eugenia in Mexico. It was heading north-northeast at 12 mph (19 kph).

The National Weather Service announced flash flood watches through Wednesday for areas including southern Nevada, southeastern California, southwestern and central Utah and the western two-thirds of Arizona.

Forecasts call for heavy rainfall in the watch areas, which include Las Vegas, Phoenix and Salt Lake City, with possible flooding in slot canyons and normally dry washes and a potential for landslides and debris flows from recent wildfire burn scars.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Sergio was growing in the Pacific and could become a hurricane force late Sunday night or early Monday, though it posed no immediate threat to land.

Sergio had winds of 65 mph (100 kph) Sunday afternoon and was centered about 550 miles (885 kilometers) south-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. The storm was moving west at 12 mph (19 kph).