Hurricane Lane Slams Into Mexico

Powerful Hurricane Lane slammed into a sparsely populated stretch of Mexico's Pacific coast south of the city of Culiacan on Saturday after battering the resort of Mazatlan with strong winds and rain.

The Category 3 storm knocked out power to at least parts of Mazatlan, a resort and retirement community popular among Americans, and forced officials to cancel the traditional Independence Day parade.

It was projected to weaken slightly to a still-dangerous Category 2 hurricane before advancing 50 miles inland to slam the state capital of Culiacan, a city of 750,000, in the afternoon.

Earlier this week, rains lashed coastal towns to the south, causing a landslide that killed a 7-year-old boy Thursday in Acapulco and flooding across western Mexico that forced hundreds of people to abandon their homes.

With top winds near 125 mp, the center of Lane was just off into the Pacific coast, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. A hurricane warning was in effect for a 210-mile stretch of coastline, from El Roblito to Topolobampo.

By late morning Saturday, Lane was centered about 80 miles northwest of Mazatlan and was moving north at nearly 10 mph. It was just offshore.

The city is the capital of Sinaloa state and is a center for the region's booming agriculture and food-processing industry. It's also notorious as the hometown of several of Mexico's top drug traffickers.

The storm's turn — earlier projections had it heading toward the Baja California Peninsula — caught residents of Mazatlan off guard. Many awoke to strong winds and a pounding rain.

There was no electricity early Saturday at the Hotel Royal Villas, where receptionist Alma Baldez and other employees scurried to hand out candles to guests who were taking refuge in their rooms. Many had just arrived at the hotel after a long night celebrating Mexico's Independence Day. City officials canceled Saturday's celebrations as the storm approached.

"It's really ugly out there," Baldez said.

It was the second hurricane to menace the region recently. Two weeks ago, Hurricane John unleashed wind and rain on Cabo San Lucas, a remote enclave on the Baja California's southern tip. Though the storm didn't directly hit the resort famous for deep-sea fishing, world-class golf courses and pristine beaches, it killed five people and damaged highways and homes in the region.

The peninsula, however, appeared to escape Hurricane Lane's wrath. Dan McGonagle, a 46-year-old salesman from Littleton, Colorado, 46, walked along the marina of Cabo San Lucas early Saturday, looking out on cloudy skies. It wasn't even raining, but many stores still had their windows covered with wood.

"It's a relief," he said. "It could have been really scary. I mean they had sandbags out and were preparing for flooding at the hotel."

Some airlines canceled flights leaving the peninsula on Saturday, forcing Ellen Fiersten, of Springfield, Ill., to spend her 60th birthday waiting at the airport Friday.

"They're very low key about the weather here," said the retiree. "The only information you get is watching CNN."

Alan Murphy, a 59-year-old retiree from Las Vegas also wasn't taking any chances. He was on a flight home Friday, three days before he was scheduled to end a fishing trip.

"If it hits land, where do the tourists go?" he said. "They'll have to evacuate, and we don't want to be a part of that."

Meanwhile, a tropical depression formed Saturday in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, the National Hurricane Center said. The season's 14th tropical depression was expected to only gradually strengthen as it feels the influence of Hurricane Lane.