Major Hurricane Nears Baja Peninsula
LOS CABOS, Mexico (AP) - An American tourist surfing near the Baja California coast drowned in high seas kicked up by Hurricane Juliette, which veered closer to tourist resorts at the tip of the peninsula early Thursday.
A hurricane warning was posted for the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula as Juliette shifted to a course that could rake at least part of the coast with hurricane-force winds even as the eye of the storm stayed at sea.
The hurricane's winds fell to 105 mph after reaching 145 mph earlier, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
The storm's center was about 155 miles south-southwest of the resort city of Cabo San Lucas, where William Creson, 45, of Denver, Colo., drowned Wednesday while surfing in the 10-foot waves, according to Adolfo Lailson of the Mexican Red Cross.
Other Americans - among the few at this Baja resort following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - took precautions as the storm approached.
``Being from Texas, we know the damage one of these can cause,'' said Jim Kelly, 46, a Houston stock broker. However, Kelly said he would stick out the storm in Los Cabos because he's planning to use the time to ask his girlfriend to marry him. ``I'll probably ask her at the height of the storm.''
Mike Parr, 32, of Cape May, N.J., tied down the 57-foot yacht Hot Pursuit at the San Jose marina in preparation for the hurricane. ``As long as the storm keeps heading northwest, that's good news,'' said Parr. ``But I'm still a little nervous. You never know what can happen.''
Juliette's movement to the north-northwest at about 9 mph should keep the center of the hurricane off shore. But lashing rains and hurricane-force winds extended as far as 70 miles from the storm's center, and tropical storm force winds were felt 230 miles out.
Schools in Los Cabos were closed and readied for use as temporary storm shelters.
Shopkeepers taped up their windows as rain pelted this resort city and palm trees flapped in stiffening winds.
The threat of the storm further emptied the nearly deserted Los Cabos resorts, already suffering from a sharp drop in tourism following the attacks.
But the area got some unexpected guests: The Elation, a cruise ship operated by Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines, docked at Cabo San Lucas to avoid the storm, company spokeswoman Irene Lui said Wednesday.
The ship, which left Los Angeles on Sunday, had been scheduled to visit Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan before stopping at Cabo San Lucas on its return voyage.
The Hurricane Center in Miami said computer models showed the storm was likely to turn away from the coast again and to gradually weaken.
``However, any unexpected delay in the northwestward turn could bring hurricane conditions to the southern Baja peninsula,'' it said.
Heavy rain brought by Juliette flooded more than 200 homes in the southwestern state of Michoacan, and the Mexican army sent transport and rescue aircraft, medical teams and emergency supplies.
A fisherman died near Acapulco when his small open boat capsized in high seas on Monday, the government news agency Notimex reported.
Originally published September 27, 2001.
