Hurricane Blanca was weakening even as it roared toward Mexico's Baja California Peninsula on Sunday, and authorities put thousands of troops on alert and businesses boarded over windows ahead of its arrival. The unpredictable storm had strengthened rapidly to a Category 4 storm on Saturday before weakening to Category 1 by Sunday morning, AP reported. Blanca is expected to approach Baja California's southwestern coastline later Sunday and move near or along the coast in the evening and on Monday. The director of Mexico's National Water Commission, Roberto Ramirez, said he was concerned about Blanca's "erratic" behavior and warned residents along the coast to be prepared for intense rains. In Baja California, 2,000 army troops and 1,321 marines were on alert, as well as emergency responders and power line technicians, said Civil Protection director Luis Felipe Puente.
