Posted on 09/30/2005 9:27:36 PM PDT by 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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And a big ol' south swell to the wedge!
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