Tin Roof ... Gusted!

September 24, 2001 / 2:27 PM EDT / AP

Hurricane Juliette blew into tourist resorts at the tip of the Baja California peninsula, peeling away tin roofs, ripping apart docks and shattering store windows.

The storm left luxury beach-side hotels largely unscathed in the resort town of Cabo San Lucas, but slowed to a crawl as it edged up the Baja California coastline early Friday.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm moved little early Friday, keeping its winds raking across Cabo San Lucas. It was expected to weaken while edging up the Baja California coastline. While it was unlikely to reach the U.S. border, forecasters said it could spread some rains into the southwestern United States.

Juliette, which has been blamed for the death of two people earlier this week, was centered 80 miles west of Cabo San Lucas early Friday, with hurricane-force winds extending out 90 miles.

Downed power lines and flying sheets of tin roofing forced emergency workers off the streets in Cabo San Lucas, home to 25,000 people.

"We can't risk our people," said Ruben Rauda of the Mexican Red Cross.

The hurricane's 85 mph winds and 15-foot waves turned docks into driftwood and downed power lines, causing sparks to fly around transformers. It shattered windows and toppled billboards and signs, leaving some streets knee-deep in water.

Jose Luis Aleman Alvarado, 23, his wife, and their 9-month old daughter awoke Thursday to find that the winds had torn the roof off their wood and tarpaper home. They took refuge at a friend's house.

"We lost nearly everything. Everything got drenched," Aleman said.

William Creson, 45, of Denver drowned as he surfed in 10-foot waves as the storm approached on Wednesday. The other victim of the storm was a fisherman whose small boat capsized in high seas near Acapulco on Monday.

Civil defense officials evacuated 800 people to schools serving as emergency shelters. Tourists on Friday holed up in hotels, playing cards to pass the time. Earlier, before it became too dangerous to be outside, they joined locals in stocking up on water and groceries.

Hurricane warnings were extended to cover the southern half the Baja peninsula, and parts of mainland Mexico across the Gulf of California.

Juliette was moving north at 7 mph, but forecasters said it should continue to weaken and turn away from the coast to the northwest. The eye of Juliette is expected to slip just west of the peninsula on Friday.

The hurricane center said 5 to 7 inches of rain was likely in the hurricane's path, posing the threat of flash floods and mud slides.

Computer consultant Peter Nunan, 43, of San Jose, Calif., peered out at the storm from the waterfront and mourned his luck.

He had been through two typhoons in Japan and Taiwan on a business trip earlier this month. "Now I can't believe I'm being hit by a hurricane," he said.

Most of the people in Nunan's tour group had not arrived because the local airport had closed, and many local hotels were almost epty because of travel restrictions or fear spawned by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Jim Kelly, 46, a Houston stock broker, said he was planning to use the time to ask his girlfriend to marry him: "I'll probably ask her at the height of the storm."

Earlier this week, heavy rain from Juliette flooded more than 200 homes in the southwestern state of Michoacan.