CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) – Hurricane Odile raked the Baja California Peninsula with strong winds and heavy rains early Monday as locals and tourists in the resort area of Los Cabos began to emerge from shelters and assess the damage.
The extent of Odile’s impact was still not clear before daybreak, but the storm severely damaged hotel lobbies and facades, shattered windows and left streets full of debris. The windows at the area’s Westin Hotel had been blown out.
The newspaper Tribuna de los Cabos reported people being injured by flying glass, power lines and traffic signals down throughout the city, and a fire at the Cascadas resort on Medano Beach. No details about the blaze were immediately available.
By early Monday, the storm’s maximum sustained winds were near 115 mph (185 kph) as it moved over the peninsula as a Category 2 hurricane. It was centered about 140 miles (230 kilometers) east-southeast of Cabo San Lazaro.
People hunkered down in shelters and hotel conference rooms overnight as the powerful and sprawling storm made landfall Sunday night as a powerful Category 3 storm near Cabo San Lucas with an estimated intensity of 125 mph (205 kph).