Hurricane Otis Strengthens Towards Baja

Las Vegas Sun ^ | September 30, 2005 at 21:22:3 PDT | IGNACIO MARTINEZ ASSOCIATED PRESS

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) -

Newly formed Hurricane Otis swept toward a sparsely populated stretch of Baja California on Friday, forcing dozens of people to evacuate low-lying neighborhoods on the outskirts of this western resort city.

In glitzy hotel zones, tourists continued to splash around in cavernous swimming pools under skies that were mostly sunny, with intermittent bouts of rain.

But on the outskirts of town - where many service industry employees live with their families in poverty - officials were bracing for heavy winds and driving downpours that could spark flash flooding.

Mayor Luis Armando Diaz led a contingent of police officers going door to door and asking residents to leave homes that sometimes consisted of simple wood and corrugated metal shacks. It was unclear how bad the weather would have to deteriorate in order for evacuations to become mandatory.

Authorities opened 14 shelters to accommodate evacuees and Diaz said he expected as many as 1,000 people to head for higher ground by late Friday night, amid increased fears as the storm approached land.

"We are going to get a lot of rain and it's better to prevent potential problems," the mayor said. "That's why we have begun evacuations."

Extended forecasts expected a weakened Otis to bring rain to parts of the southwestern United States by early next week.

Otis was the 15th named Pacific storm of the season, compared to 17 in the Atlantic-Caribbean region. Pacific storm names are doled out independently of named storms in the Atlantic.

Unlike powerful Atlantic storms such as hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Pacific storms tend to do less damage because they move ashore less frequently.

The storm had maximum sustained winds of about 85 mph late Friday and was about 120 miles southwest of the nearby city of Los Cabos, at the tip of the peninsula, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

Otis was still growing and the center said it could become a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 96 mph or above by Saturday.

Otis was not expected to hit Cabo San Lucas directly, but rains and winds from the storm's outer bands were battering the coastline.

The resort's port was closed, but the airport remained open. Few visitors chose to leave the area as Otis approached, officials said, although streets were largely deserted.

The storm was moving at 8 mph toward a sparsely populated central section of the Baja peninsula. The Hurricane Center said the storm's outer bands could bring up to 4 inches of rain over the southern end of the peninsula by late Friday.

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[ladyinred]

This one seems to be a little less dangerous, at least so far? Such a beautiful area it is in right now. Prayers for those in it's path.

[kstewskis]

South swell alert

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

[dc-zoo]

What do you know, a storm named after the drunk from Mayberry.

[PLMerite]

Otis! My man!




Sorry.

[oyez]

Good Otis.

[Slicksadick]

[HAL9000]

[Sting 11]

I'd suggest staying away from the Dock of the Bay.

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Mother Nature needs to try a little tenderness.

[MinuteGal]

The usual class warfare crappioli in the first three paragraphs.

Leni

[Colorado Doug]

In glitzy hotel zones, tourists continued to splash around in cavernous swimming pools under skies that were mostly sunny, with intermittent bouts of rain.

But on the outskirts where service industry employees live in poverty - officials were bracing for heavy winds and driving downpours that could spark flash flooding.

It is amazing to me how these hurricanes keep hitting only the poor. Is it the large swimming pools that repel the storms or just sheer glitzyness that drive them away?

[cabojoe]

If you ever go down there, take the time to travel over the hill to the west of town. Hidden away where tourists can't see are the homes of the less fortunate and the folks that work in service jobs. It's no joke. In town the buildings are built of concrete and are very stable. Not so in the outskirts. That being said, I don't think anyone is going to get hit hard at all this time. They will probably have some parts of the highway wash out.

[KarinG1]

They've had to evacuate a thousand people! Thankfully they were Mexicans so the press can't blame it on President Bush who, as I understand it, actually speaks their language.

[Cobra64]

Yupper. I noticed that in a heartbeat. Bush ahtes the poverty-stricken of all stripes. And when CA fires burn down mansions in Malibu, Bush hates wealthy folks too. Bush hates everyone. There is a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy to kill every creature on the planet. Just you wait and see.

Film at 11...

[BJungNan]

"Oh, It never rains in Southern, California..." Until Tuesday it would seem.

[MinuteGal]

I've never lived in a town where the poor weren't hidden away somewhere. And yes, their houses are usually not solid rocks.

My point was that leave it to the lefty MSM scribes to slip in some class envy references in their articles EVERY opportunity they have.

I'll bet the writer almost hopes the tourists he refers to in that sneering second paragraph get the hurricane up their pipes because he thinks they deserve it for splashing around in cavernous pools in glitzy hotels.

Leni

[Slicksadick]

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks, meanwhile in the Atlantic and Caribbean:

19TH TROPICAL DEPRESSION FORMS IN THE EASTERN ATLANTIC As of 5:00 A.M. Saturday, Tropical Depression 19 was located near 13.3 north and 34.0 west, or about 695 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. Tropical Depression 19 was nearly stationary in movement... MORE