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Mexicans flee from Pacific's Hurricane Otis

By wire services
Published October 2, 2005

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico - Hurricane Otis's outer bands lashed the coast of western Mexico on Saturday as the storm crawled toward the Baja California peninsula, forcing hundreds of families to evacuate their homes and flooding roads in the resort city of Cabo San Lucas.

The Category 1 hurricane weakened but still had winds up to 85 mph as it headed northward off the coast of Baja. Forecasters expected Otis to skirt past Cabo San Lucas and move ashore along a sparsely populated stretch of desert far north of it as early as tonight, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

Periods of strong winds and heavy rains were mixed with mostly sunny skies over Cabo San Lucas.

Extended forecasts showed the storm weakening as it moved across the sparsely populated Baja California peninsula, then bringing rains to parts of western Texas and southern Arizona by early next week.

Otis was the 15th Pacific storm of the season. Unlike powerful Atlantic storms, Pacific hurricanes tend to do less damage because they make landfall less frequently.

As of 5 p.m., the depression was about 665 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands and was moving toward the north-northwest at about 8 mph. Maximum sustained winds were near 35 mph, and the depression could become a tropical storm today.

Also Saturday, the hurricane season's 20th tropical depression formed in the western Caribbean. As of 5 p.m., the depression was about 80 miles east-southeast of Tulum, Mexico, and about 95 miles southeast of Cozumel, with sustained winds of about 35 mph. It was expected to make landfall on the eastern Yucatan later Saturday or today.

Either depression would be named Tropical Storm Stan if they strengthen into the 18th named system of the Atlantic season. The 19th named storm of the season would be named Tropical Storm Tammy.

PALO CAMPANA, El Salvador - A volcano in western El Salvador erupted on Saturday, sending a column of ash 50,000 feet into the air and killing two farmers buried by chunks of earth and boiling water that tumbled down the slopes.

Authorities ordered the evacuation of three communities in the shadow of the Ilamatepec volcano, which towers near Santa Ana, the country's second largest city, 40 miles from San Salvador, the capital.

"The volcano has entered an eruptive phase that consists of ashes and gases," Interior Secretary Rene Figueroa said.

It was unclear how many people had been ordered to leave their homes. Figueroa said as many as 10,000 residents live close to the volcano, but that most areas were not evacuated.

"We have had an eruption of moderate magnitude," President Tony Saca said during a visit to the national emergency response headquarters. But he added that "there was no lava."

AFGHANISTAN: Militants firing rocket-propelled grenades killed a U.S. soldier and wounded another during combat operations Friday near Kandahar, Afghanistan, the military said Saturday. The death brought to 198 the number of U.S. service members killed in or around Afghanistan since the ouster of the unpopular Taliban regime in late 2001.

KENYA: Rangers suspended efforts to relocate 400 elephants because the upcoming rainy season will make it difficult to transport them, Kenya's Wildlife Service spokeswoman said Saturday. The service has been moving the elephants from a small reserve with too many of the animals to another park 220 miles away. Rangers have so far moved 150 elephants from Shimba Hills National Reserve to Tsavo East National Park.

[Last modified October 2, 2005, 01:59:10]