Hurricane threatens Mexico resort city

October 19, 2009|Associated Press

MEXICO CITY - Hurricane Rick, the strongest eastern North Pacific storm in more than a decade, raged across open seas yesterday, but forecasters said it could veer into resorts at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula by midweek.

The track of the Category 5 hurricane threatened to disrupt a major sport fishing tournament scheduled to start Wednesday in Los Cabos, where hundreds of fishermen - mainly Americans - were gathering.

The hurricane’s winds were still a howling 175 miles per hour yesterday, down slightly from a peak of 180 miles per hour, according to the US National Hurricane Center in Miami. But it was projected to move over cooler waters and weaken to about Category 2 status, with winds of around 98 miles per hour before hitting land.

The eye was centered about 500 miles south-southeast of Cabo San Lucas yesterday. Rick was moving toward the west-northwest at about 14 miles per hour, and it was expected to begin turning toward the northwest before curving toward the northeast, the center said.

It is still far from clear where the storm will hit land, but the early forecast path would take it almost directly into Cabo San Lucas, where as many as 800 sports fishermen were expected to take part in the Bisbee’s Los Cabos tournament. About 130 boats are scheduled to set off into the Pacific on Wednesday - the day Rick is projected to hit.

Clicerio Mercado, tournament organizer, said the event might be held just on Friday instead of the planned three days.

Forecasters said Rick could carry enough force to slam into Mexico’s mainland as a hurricane Thursday.

Rick was the second-strongest hurricane in the eastern North Pacific since 1966, the start of reliable records, said Hugh Cobb, Hurricane Center meteorologist.