John Upgraded To Category 3
Hurricane John strengthened Friday as it took aim at Mexico's Baja California peninsula, where authorities threatened to forcibly evacuate people from their homes and thousands of tourists sheltered in hotel ballrooms.
John, which was upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane, was expected to make landfall somewhere along the southern tip of the peninsula around midday. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph and could drop up to 18 inches of rain in places and create up to a 5-foot storm surge, forecasters at the U.S. National Weather Center in Miami said.
John was about 95 miles southeast of Baja's tip early Friday, moving at 7 mph. A hurricane watch was extended along the west coast of the peninsula from Bahia Magdalena to Punta Abreojos. A tropical storm watch remained in effect along a region of the east coast dotted with vacation and retirement homes owned by Americans.
The storm's track was expected to take it out to sea this weekend, meaning there was little threat to the United States. Thus far, no deaths have been reported.
Officials on Thursday ordered the evacuation of about 10,000 people from Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo and at least 5,000 others from La Paz, the capital of the state of Baja California del Sur. Shelters had been set up at more than 100 schools.
In La Palma, where thousands of construction workers and hotel employees who work in the luxurious tourist resorts live under tarps and tarpaper shacks along a dry riverbed, police drove by ordering residents to evacuate. "This is the last warning, the next time we'll come and force you to leave," officers announced over loudspeakers.
State Gov. Narciso Agundez earlier said that residents who refuse to head for higher ground will be removed from their homes.
"I'm leaving for safety's sake. Things can be replaced, but not lives," said Ana Maria de Martinez, 60, as she nervously bundled up her tarps and few items of clothing and climbed into a Mexican Navy truck.
At one school shelter, distraught mothers stared at the bare concrete floors as their children scampered around them, most unaware of the menace approaching from the sea.
"I left more for the sake of my children's safety, than mine. I've already had a life, but they still have to live theirs," said Leonora Lazaro Alonso, 30, as her 8-year-old son and two daughters, 4 and 6, explored their temporary home at the shelter.
Across the peninsula, shop owners and hotels boarded up windows and hotel workers stripped rooms of light fixtures and furniture, in case plate-glass windows were shattered. Long lines snaked from gas stations and grocery store shelves were picked clean of many items.
Meanwhile, between 7,000 and 8,000 tourists who remained in Cabo San Lucas were relocated Thursday to hotel ballrooms and rooms away from the beach to wait out the storm.
"There's no other place to go," said Bill Crowley, a 42-year-old tourist from Lakewood, Colo. "I would evacuate the first floor of these hotels, but we're on the third floor, so we should be all right."
Paul Mares, also from Colorado, stocked up on a 12-pack of beer at a local store the evening before the hurricane was to strike, noting, "It's good to be prepared."
Officials closed the local airport Thursday night, ending a mad scramble for last-minute flights. Driving out wasn't much of an alternative — there's only one narrow road, 400 miles long, leading to Tijuana.
Tourism authorities said late Thursday that hotel occupancy rates were only about 40-50 percent, as most visitors had been advised to return home.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Kristy was downgraded from a hurricane Friday as it churned farther out in the Pacific Ocean, with maximum sustained winds of 69 mph. Forecasters said it was possible the larger Hurricane John could eventually absorb Kristy.