CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (27 Sep 2001) -- Hurricane Juliette has whipped up high winds and seas from the tip off the Baja California peninsula in Mexico, smashing through docks and forcing people to flee their homes. Some 400 families were being evacuated from unsturdy accommodation by civil defence officials, as winds blew off roofs in the poor neighbourhoods of Cabo San Lucas and brought down power lines. "We saw the roof jump and then jump again and take off. It fell 15 metres from the house," said Gabriel Reyes Martinez, who lives in a house of corrugated metal and cardboard. He took his family to one of the several schools in the region which have been closed to serve as emergency shelters. A US surfer drowned while out on the high seas whipped up by the hurricane just off the coast of Cabo San Lucas. Docks have been destroyed by the crashing waves, which have risen to four metres. Although the hurricane is expected to stay out at sea, warnings have been extended to cover a 200 mile strip of the Baja peninsula. Flooded homes Hurricane Juliette, whose winds have reached 145mph (233km/h), has been blamed for indirectly causing other deaths earlier this week. | | Two men died on Sunday in the south-western state of Chiapas when water burst river banks and flooded homes. In Acapulco, in Guerrero state, a fisherman died when his boat capsized in high seas. Others have been forced out of their homes. In the western state of Michoacan, some 1,000 people abandoned their homes as they were flooded by waters rising to 2 metres. The winds have also dealt a blow to an increasingly shaky tourist trade. Local airports have been closed, but correspondents say hotels were already looking empty due to drop in tourism from the neighbouring United States after the terrorist attacks on 11 September. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
