Tropical weather that surged onshore from the Pacific soaked more of the U.S. on Wednesday while forecasters announced yet another hurricane off the coast of Mexico.
The new hurricane, Rachel, is expected to develop rapidly and could become a major one with sustained winds topping 111 mph (178 kph). The storm was hundreds of miles offshore, however, and posed no threat to land.
Parts of New Mexico, meanwhile, looked less and less like the months of drought that dried up reservoirs and caused hungry bears to roam into neighborhoods in search of food.
“There’s a lot of standing water in the fields and near some homes,” National Weather Service meteorologist Greg Lundeen said of one area where water overtopped a minor dam.
Floodwaters threatened the state's famous chile crop at harvest time. And the Rio Grande that ran dry through a long stretch of the state was overflowing.
The damp and stormy pattern is consistent with an El Niño year of above average Pacific storm activity.
From Colorado and across the Great Plains to Iowa, as much as 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain fell Tuesday and into Wednesday, with some areas seeing even more.
More storms were expected in Texas and Oklahoma after one in Amarillo, Texas, flooded streets and spawned a tornado Tuesday night. Storm totals in the Amarillo area topped 3.5 inches (9 centimeters).
The weather was the remnant of tropical systems including Hurricane Polo, a Category 3 hurricane that made landfall overnight Monday on the Baja California peninsula and then farther inshore.
In southern New Mexico, ongoing rain threatened to rot red chiles as the harvest wraps up. Mold and disease will put stress on the plants in the field, said Preston Mitchell, a Hatch Chile Association board member.
“There will be nobody picking chile for at least five or six days,” Mitchell said. “All these growers whose fields were flooded, everything’s toast. Everything that’s out there is done.”
But most of about 100 people who sought refuge from potential flooding in chile-growing Dona Ana County were headed home from shelters Wednesday, county officials said.
As the weather cleared, water stopped spilling over an earthen flood-control structure in the area that held without failing.
Acting Gov. Howie Morales declared a state of emergency that made $3.75 million available through local governments to help affected people get temporary housing, healthcare, food and transportation.
Mexican authorities remain on alert in the states of Michoacán, Colima and Jalisco due to Hurricane Rachel.
In the state of Jalisco, schools were closed Wednesday in 30 municipalities as a precautionary measure.
Rachel was located about 185 miles (300 kilometers) southwest of Cabo Corrientes, Mexico, or about 310 miles (495 kilometers) south-southeast of Cabo San Luas. Its maximum sustained winds were around 85 mph (140 kph), according to an advisory from the Miami-based National Hurricane Center.
The cyclone was moving northwest at 8 mph (13 kph) and was forecast to turn toward the west-northwest and west later this week, moving away from mainland Mexico and passing south of the Baja California peninsula.
The hurricane center said the Mexican government had discontinued all coastal watches and warnings. But it warned of possible isolated rainfall totals of up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) and heavy surf along the coasts of Guerrero, Michoacán, Colima and Jalisco states.
In Jalisco, the bodies of three people -- two children ages 3 and 15, and their mother -- were found Sunday after the family went missing due to a river flooding in the city of Talpa de Allende, before Polo made landfall. The father is still missing, according to the Jalisco State Civil Protection agency. A tourist also is missing due to strong waves in Puerto Vallarta, but the agency says that case is not linked to Polo either.
In the central Pacific Ocean, Tropical Storm Nolo threatened dangerous conditions for parts of Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, a marine conservation area. Formerly a hurricane, the storm drenched parts of Hawaii’s Big Island over the weekend. Its maximum sustained winds were near 50 mph (85 kph).
Mikella Schuettler and Wufei Yu in Phoenix, Sarah Raza in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Fabiola Sanchez in Mexico City and Julie Walker in New York City contributed reporting.
Rays of sunlight shine on the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., between rain showers Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (Mason Kumet/Arizona Luminaria via AP)
A large storm closes in quickly over the Tucson Mountains, west of downtown Tucson, on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (Mason Kumet/Arizona Luminaria via AP)
This satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hurricane Rachel in the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday plans for South Korea to invest roughly $54 billion to export natural gas from Alaska, a project long backed by Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who's in a competitive reelection contest there.
It marks the second time in three days that the president has sought to highlight the promise of foreign investment made possible by his administration's trade policy in states where Republican Senate candidates are in tight election campaigns.
Trump made a similar announcement on Monday in the Oval Office for a massive steel plant in Iowa.
“He’s got my ear, and he’s had my ear for a long time on Alaska," Trump said during an Oval Office event with Sullivan. The president added that "all these energy projects are all mine, and I got ’em done working with Dan Sullivan.”
It was not clear how quickly South Korea's government would approve the project and how much it planned to spend.
The investment comes from pledges made as part of a 2025 trade deal with South Korea, which included promises of $350 billion in U.S. investments in exchange for lower U.S. tariffs on South Korean cars, auto parts and other products.
Without providing those details, Trump credited his tariffs for making the announcement possible, saying “our trade agreement with South Korea, they have to invest hundreds of billions of dollars.”
“For doing that, I reduced their tariffs to 15%. But they paid to get them reduced,” Trump said. "And, part of that money is going into this project.”
Sullivan said “the sky is the limit when we get this project done.”
“Mr. President, this one is huge for Alaska,” Sullivan said, adding that he'd been working on it “relentlessly.”
The project consists of an 807-mile (1,300-kilometer) natural gas pipeline connecting Alaska’s North Slope to a liquified natural gas export terminal in southern Alaska and eventually will reduce energy costs for the state’s residents by providing a reliable and secure supply, the White House said.
Officials said during the Oval Office event that building the pipeline will take three years and that exports of liquified natural gas would begin two years after that — but that was dependent on financing coming through fully.
The push to deliver big projects in areas where GOP candidates could use a boost comes as Trump's approval ratings have sunk to nearly historic lows ahead of midterm elections.
Even Trump himself has begun acknowledging that Republicans could face an uphill climb in their push to retain control of both chambers of Congress after November, but suggests it is because his administration hasn't done enough to promote its accomplishments.
“I’ve done a very bad job of explaining," the president said during an event in the White House's East Room, which came before the subsequent announcement on the Alaska investment.
He's promised to help rectify that by spending much of the next 30 days on the road, campaigning ahead of the midterms — though he is beginning that swing with trips to Texas, Alabama, Ohio and Nebraska, which are all normally solidly red states.
“I hope you can believe that I’m running. They like to say, ‘Oh, nobody wants him.’ Well, everybody that has me wins," Trump told the crowd at the Hispanic Heritage Month event. "We lose 40% when I don't run. When I run, we have tremendous success."
Sullivan, who has been a persistent advocate for the Alaska natural gas project and has encouraged South Korean investment, is a two-term senator facing a competitive challenge from Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman.
Wednesday's Alaska event came two days after Trump announced plans for a $15 billion steel plant to be built in Iowa by a Minnesota company owned by an Indian industrial conglomerate.
In Iowa, Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson is in a close U.S. Senate contest with Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek for the seat being vacated by retiring two-term Republican Joni Ernst. Hinson spoke in the Oval Office during the announcement.
Alaska and Iowa, where Trump won comfortably each time he has run for president, are among the states where Democrats are targeting Republican-held Senate seats in the 2026 midterm elections, less than five weeks away.
Democrats need to gain a net of four seats in the 100-member Senate to overtake Republicans in the majority.
Trump's announcements come as voters express concern about near-record fuel prices related to the unresolved war with Iran and as majority Republicans in Congress are facing voters dissatisfied with Trump's handling of the economy.
In a late-July poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, only about one-third of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the economy, and about 7 in 10 described the economy as poor.
Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.
Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump winks as the members of the media depart the Oval Office of the White House as Essar Capital Director Prashant Ruia, from left, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, John Jovanovic, chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa., and Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, look on, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
FILE - U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, speaks at a get out the vote event held at farm in Palmer, Alaska, on Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Tuesday Sept. 29, 2026, after meeting with top executives of AI firms. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
