Hurricane Kiko Strikes Baja, Forces Evacuations

Hurricane Kiko pounded the Baja California peninsula early Sunday, wrecking about 20 homes and forcing more than 1,000 people to evacuate before weakening to a tropical storm, officials said.

The storm struck the tip of the peninsula at midnight Saturday with 115-m.p.h. winds and heavy rains. However, it began weakening as it hit coastal cliffs and moved over the mountainous terrain.

The storm was expected to keep fading, the National Weather Service in Miami said Sunday as it downgraded it to a tropical storm.

Kiko’s maximum sustained winds had fallen to 60 m.p.h. by 11 a.m. It was located near La Paz, about 760 miles south of San Diego, and it was expected to remain mostly stationary for 12 to 24 hours, the weather service said.

About 160,000 people live in La Paz, the capital of the state of Baja California Sur.

About 1,300 people, mostly from La Paz, were evacuated into shelters statewide as a precautionary measure, said Lt. Ignacio Cortez Telechea, assistant state government director.

He said airports and ports remained closed and that there were no flights or ferry service.

Hurricane warnings were discontinued, but tropical storm warnings remained in effect on the Gulf of California side of the peninsula from the southern tip to Bahia Concepcion, 200 miles north of La Paz, and on the Pacific side south of San Carlos.

The storm hit La Rivera, a town of about 4,000 people 75 miles south of La Paz, first and hardest. Officials said about 20 homes were destroyed there.

“There were homes of thin wood and laminated cardboard that blew down,” Cortez said. “They had palm or cardboard roofs that blew away. Trees, antennas, electrical poles fell.”

No one was injured, he said.

Other small towns south of La Paz were also hit by heavy rains and flash floods, officials said.