LA PAZ, Mexico (BNO NEWS) — Hurricane warnings and watches have been issued for parts of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula as category four Hurricane Jimena continues to close in, forecasters said on Monday.

At 11 a.m. EDT, Mexico changed the hurricane watch to a hurricane warning for the southern portion of the Baja California peninsula from Bahia Magdalena southward on the west coast. A hurricane watch was also issued for the Baja California peninsula north of Bahia Magdalena on the west coast to Punta Abreojos and north of San Evaristo to Mulege on the east coast.

The National Hurricane Center advises people on the Baja California peninsula and in western mainland Mexico to closely monitor the progress of Jimena. The storm is currently located about 355 miles south-southeast of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Jimena is moving toward the northwest near 8 miles per hour and is expected to make a turn toward the north-northwest with a gradual increase in forward speed over the next day.

Maximum sustained winds remain near 145 miles per hour with higher gusts, making it an extremely dangerous category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Some fluctuations in intensity are possible during the next day or two. A category four hurricane is capable of causing devastating damage with complete roof structure failures on homes, signs blown out and complete destruction of mobile homes. Extensive damage to doors and windows should be expected, with items and debris becoming airborne, which is often fatal when striking a person. Many trees will likely be snapped or uprooted, and power may be cut off to those areas for days to weeks. Hurricane force winds currently extend outward up to 30 miles from the center, and tropical storm winds extend outward up to 80 miles.

Jimena is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 5 to 10 inches over the southern half of the Baja California peninsula and portions of western Mexico during the next two days, with possible isolated maximum amounts of 15 inches. A storm surge with large and dangerous battering waves will likely produce significant coastal flooding along the Baja California peninsula.