Hurricane stronger, heads for Mexico's Los Cabos
LOS CABOS, Mexico – Extremely dangerous and strengthening Hurricane Jimena roared toward Mexico's resort-studded Baja California Peninsula on Monday, prompting emergency workers to set up makeshift shelters and chasing away an international finance conference.
Jimena, just short of Category 5 status, could rake the harsh desert region fringed with picturesque beaches and fishing villages by Tuesday evening, forecasters said.
At least 10,000 families will be evacuated from potential flood zones, said Francisco Cota, the local director of Civil Protection. He said 60 shelters would be set up.
A spokesman for the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information said it decided Monday to move the conference — including more than 170 representatives from 54 countries — to Mexico City, even though some delegates had already arrived in Los Cabos.
"The meeting has been planned for two months and the meteorological conditions, by their very nature, are unpredictable," said conference spokesman Anthony Gooch.
Los Cabos Mayor Oscar Nunez said people in poorly constructed homes face "a huge potential risk" right now and they may be forced to evacuate.
Brenda Munoz, who lost her home to a 2001 hurricane, was taking no chances and stocking up on food this time.
"I remember when Hurricane Juliette hit with a lot of intensity. It flattened our home, lots of flooding, lots of disaster," Munoz said in Cabo San Lucas. "We're already prepared with food and everything so it won't catch us off guard."
As rain started falling Monday morning, Mitch Williams of Orange County, California, waited at the airport to fly home from his vacation.
"I know that it's getting closer. ... The hurricane can do a lot of damage if it hits at that strength," he said.
Williams said poorer residents who live in shacks in this vacation town are not well prepared. "It will wipe them out," he said.
His advice for tourists was simple: "Get out."
But on Cabo's famous beaches, some tourists were doing just the opposite, getting into the Pacific to play in the hurricane's big waves.
Although city officials shut down the port, lifeguard Roman Dominguez with the Cabo San Lucas Fire Department said there's no feasible way to close a beach.
"We struggle a lot with surfers," he said. "They're looking for waves."
Lifeguards perched in a tower looked on Monday as two women, one with her boogie board, another on a surf board, paddled into pounding surf under cloudy skies.
Farther south, Jimena kicked up surf along Mexico's mainland western coast and generated strong winds that bent and uprooted trees in the resort town of Zihuatanejo.
By midday Monday, Jimena was a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds near 150 mph (240 kph) and was moving northwest near 8 mph (13 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported.
It was centered about 340 miles (545 kilometers) south of Cabo San Lucas.
Hurricanes reach Category 5 — the top danger rating for a hurricane — at 156 mph (250 kph).
Ironically, the entire peninsula is grappling with a severe drought.
Martin Rozendaal who moved to Los Cabos in 1992 to run the Hotel Club Cabo, said residents have a "love-hate relationship" with harsh storms that flood the region almost every summer.
"We need a lot of rain but we don't need the destruction," he said.
Authorities in Cabo Corrientes were setting up shelters in case of heavier winds and rain, said Arturo Garcia, an official with Jalisco's Civil Protection agency.
The U.S. hurricane center issued a public advisory for residents in western Mexico and the southern part of the Baja peninsula to keep tabs on Jimena.
Farther out in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Kevin weakened to a tropical depression with top winds of 35 mph (55 kph). It was centered 880 miles (1,415 kilometers) west-southwest of the Baja peninsula's southern tip.
Jimena, just short of Category 5 status, could rake the harsh desert region fringed with picturesque beaches and fishing villages by Tuesday evening, forecasters said.
At least 10,000 families will be evacuated from potential flood zones, said Francisco Cota, the local director of Civil Protection. He said 60 shelters would be set up.
A spokesman for the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information said it decided Monday to move the conference — including more than 170 representatives from 54 countries — to Mexico City, even though some delegates had already arrived in Los Cabos.
"The meeting has been planned for two months and the meteorological conditions, by their very nature, are unpredictable," said conference spokesman Anthony Gooch.
Los Cabos Mayor Oscar Nunez said people in poorly constructed homes face "a huge potential risk" right now and they may be forced to evacuate.
Brenda Munoz, who lost her home to a 2001 hurricane, was taking no chances and stocking up on food this time.
"I remember when Hurricane Juliette hit with a lot of intensity. It flattened our home, lots of flooding, lots of disaster," Munoz said in Cabo San Lucas. "We're already prepared with food and everything so it won't catch us off guard."
As rain started falling Monday morning, Mitch Williams of Orange County, California, waited at the airport to fly home from his vacation.
"I know that it's getting closer. ... The hurricane can do a lot of damage if it hits at that strength," he said.
Williams said poorer residents who live in shacks in this vacation town are not well prepared. "It will wipe them out," he said.
His advice for tourists was simple: "Get out."
But on Cabo's famous beaches, some tourists were doing just the opposite, getting into the Pacific to play in the hurricane's big waves.
Although city officials shut down the port, lifeguard Roman Dominguez with the Cabo San Lucas Fire Department said there's no feasible way to close a beach.
"We struggle a lot with surfers," he said. "They're looking for waves."
Lifeguards perched in a tower looked on Monday as two women, one with her boogie board, another on a surf board, paddled into pounding surf under cloudy skies.
Farther south, Jimena kicked up surf along Mexico's mainland western coast and generated strong winds that bent and uprooted trees in the resort town of Zihuatanejo.
By midday Monday, Jimena was a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds near 150 mph (240 kph) and was moving northwest near 8 mph (13 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported.
It was centered about 340 miles (545 kilometers) south of Cabo San Lucas.
Hurricanes reach Category 5 — the top danger rating for a hurricane — at 156 mph (250 kph).
Ironically, the entire peninsula is grappling with a severe drought.
Martin Rozendaal who moved to Los Cabos in 1992 to run the Hotel Club Cabo, said residents have a "love-hate relationship" with harsh storms that flood the region almost every summer.
"We need a lot of rain but we don't need the destruction," he said.
Authorities in Cabo Corrientes were setting up shelters in case of heavier winds and rain, said Arturo Garcia, an official with Jalisco's Civil Protection agency.
The U.S. hurricane center issued a public advisory for residents in western Mexico and the southern part of the Baja peninsula to keep tabs on Jimena.
Farther out in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Kevin weakened to a tropical depression with top winds of 35 mph (55 kph). It was centered 880 miles (1,415 kilometers) west-southwest of the Baja peninsula's southern tip.
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