Lidia formed Wednesday in the Pacific Ocean and was already wreaking havoc along the coast and as far inland as Mexico City ahead of its expected landfall Thursday night at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.
That area's pristine, turquoise-water beaches are home to the strip of luxury resorts known as Los Cabos, which draws more than a million tourists each year.
In Mexico City, a huge downpour caused by Lidia triggered a huge cave-in on a central street Thursday, opening a gaping hole at least 10 meters (33 feet) wide and seven meters deep just steps from one of the city's most iconic thoroughfares, Paseo de la Reforma.
On Wednesday night, the international airport in the capital canceled 18 flights and diverted 40 arriving planes -- including one carrying Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was on her way to give a speech but found herself temporarily diverted to Cancun, some 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) away.
Lidia was about 30 kilometers southwest of Cabo San Lucas, with maximum sustained winds of 100 kilometers per hour, the US National Hurricane Center said in an update at 2100 GMT.
It said the storm would sweep over the Baja California peninsula through Friday night.
"We have already started evacuations" in the state of Baja California Sur, national emergency response coordinator Luis Felipe Puente told TV network Milenio on Wednesday night.
The head of the national water commission, Roberto Ramirez de la Parra, warned of torrential rains in seven western states stretching more than half the length of Mexico, and waves up to six meters high off the coast of Baja California and Sinaloa, in the north.
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