Hurricane Juliette Nears Baja Peninsula

Howling winds and roaring waves from Hurricane Juliette bore down on tourist resorts at the tip of the Baja California peninsula Thursday, knocking out power and smashing docks to driftwood.

The winds blew the roofs off shacks in poor neighborhoods, and sparks cascaded from shorted-out power transformers. Fifteen-foot waves destroyed docks.

As the storm approached Wednesday, William Creson, 45, of Denver drowned in 10-foot waves.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said that Juliette’s eye was expected to slip west of the peninsula, but that it still could rake the region with hurricane-force winds.

Juliette’s strongest winds fell to 90 mph Thursday after once reaching 145 mph. Tropical storms are classified as hurricanes after reaching 74 mph.

Juliette was centered about 65 miles south-southwest of Cabo San Lucas at the tip of the peninsula, but hurricane-force winds extended 60 miles from its center and tropical storm-force winds reached out 230 miles.

Civil defense officials said they were evacuating 400 people from shanties, and schools were converted to emergency shelters.

Tourists joined locals in hunting for emergency supplies of water and groceries in the few stores still open in Cabo San Lucas, a city of 25,000 people.

Juliette was moving north at about 7 mph, but forecasters said it should continue to weaken and turn away from the coast to the northwest.

The hurricane center said 5 to 7 inches of rain were likely in the hurricane’s path, posing the threat of flash floods and mudslides.