Hurricane Paul weakens ahead of landfall in Mexico's Baja California Hurricane Paul was close to making landfall in Mexico's Baja California Tuesday, drenching the area with rain but having weakened considerably after reaching Category 3 status Monday night. It is raining very hard, there is a lot of wind. It is not the time to go out," said Margarito Medina, a civil protection official in the area, told Reuters. Up to 10 inches of rain in some places could trigger flooding or mudslides, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, warning the storm would cause dangerous coastal waves. Mexico issued a hurricane warning from Santa Fe northward to Punta Abreojos on the country's western Baja peninsula. While Paul was expected to weaken further, it should stay over Baja California for up to 36 hours, the hurricane center said. The storm was forecast to pass over the entire peninsula farther north near the town of Meluge, and then sweep back out to sea near the whale breeding grounds in the Vizcaino reserve, near the town of Guerrero Negro. The rain didn't scare many tourists on Mexico's southern Baja peninsula who saw the impending arrival of Hurricane Paul as a minor inconvenience. Some went to Medano Beach on Monday to watch the heavy surf. Anthony Curtis of San Diego went for a stroll with his wife. "It's only rain falling from the clouds," he said. The hotel told us not to worry. Paul had already passed by the heavily populated tourist areas of Los Cabos at the tip of the peninsula, and the capital, La Paz, on the eastern Gulf of California. But the state government as a precaution readied 143 shelters that could take up to 35,000 people in the tourist zone. Classes were suspended for Tuesday statewide, and ports were closed to small vessels in the capital, La Paz, Los Cabos and Comondu.