Mexico to airlift tourists after Hurricane Odile

The Mexican government prepared to begin airlifting tens of thousands of stranded tourists out of the hurricane-ravaged resort area of Los Cabos on yesterday, as residents picked up the pieces of shattered, flooded homes.

The Interior Ministry said military and commercial planes would be sent to ferry travelers out through the airports of La Paz and Los Cabos, the latter of which remained closed to commercial flights due to damage from Hurricane Odile when it tore through the area late Sunday and Monday.

Images on Mexican television showed the terminal full of debris, but Ministry official Jose Maria Tapia told Milenio Television that the runway was usable and work was nearly complete to make the control tower operable.

Tapia said travelers would be flown to Tijuana and Mazatlan, where they can catch connecting flights and, in the case of foreigners, receive consular assistance.

A boat was on its way to Baja California Sur with humanitarian aid, and authorities were working to restore electricity and phone service.

President Enrique Pena Nieto was scheduled to tour the area later in the day and oversee evacuations, after presiding over an independence day military parade in the capital.

Downgraded to a tropical storm, Odile continued to soak parts of the Baja California Peninsula, and forecasters said it was still capable of unleashing dangerous flash floods and mudslides.

In Los Cabos, Enrique Cota wept as he stood in murky, ankle-deep water and surveyed the destruction at his home. On the kitchen wall, a muddy mark nearly waist-high showed how deep the floodwaters got.

"We'll have to start over, little by little," Cota said, "because the stove, the refrigerator, the television, the kid's computer — it's all ruined."

He rode out Odile's landfall in a shelter with firefighters, and said he hadn't slept for two days.

Homes, stores and resorts along Los Cabos' famed hotel row all suffered severe damage, with room windows shattered, facades crumbled and lobbies full of debris.

Authorities said about 30,000 tourists, 26,000 of them foreigners, were being put up in temporary refuges or hotel areas converted to shelters.

Luis Felipe Puente, national coordinator for Civil Protection, said the airlift would prioritize the elderly and people with health problems.

For some, it was a dream vacation turned nightmare.

Charly Park, 52, flew in from Los Angeles with his wife on Sunday, but they never even got to check into their room. Instead, they were put directly into the hotel shelter where they spent a hot, cramped night as the hurricane raged outside.

"It's a horrible experience, no air conditioning, no fans ... the power lines all fell down," Park said.

He was considering renting a car to drive to Tijuana, a little over 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) to the north, and cross the border back into California.

Emergency officials in Baja California reported that 135 people were treated for minor injuries from flying glass or falling objects.

But surprisingly for a hurricane of this intensity — it made landfall as a monster Category 3 storm — there were no reports so far of fatalities directly related to Odile.

The US National Hurricane Center said that by yesterday afternoon Tropical Storm Odile had maximum sustained winds near 50 mph (85 kph). It was centered about 15 miles (25 kilometers) southeast of Bahia de Los Angeles, Mexico, and was moving to the north-northwest near 9 mph (15 kph).

Farther south in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Polo formed off southern Mexico early yesterday. It was centered 275 miles (440 kilometers) south of Acapulco with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph), and was moving northwest parallel to the coast at 12 mph (19 kph). The hurricane center predicted that Polo could become a hurricane later in the week.

Meanwhile in the central Atlantic, Hurricane Edouard strengthened to a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds near 115 mph (185 kph). It was forecast to pose no threat to land.