The storm was earlier reported to be carrying winds of 50 mph (80 kph) over the eastern Pacific Ocean before it hit the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula on Sunday afternoon.
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| ©REUTERS/NOAA/National Hurricane Center/Handout |
| A graphic showing the location of Tropical Storm Julio at 10:44 PM, August 23, 2008. |
"Right now we have five emergency shelters activated and we have the potential to open 14 if necessary," local emergency official Juan Carlos Guevara told Reuters.
"Hotels are open and guests are being cared for by the hotel's own security," he said. Some tourists walked along the beaches to watch 8-foot-high (2.4-m-high) waves pound the shore. Others hunkered down in their rooms to wait out the storm.
The port at Los Cabos, popular with cruise ships, was closed, but all the country's major oil exporting ports remained open, Mexico's Transport Ministry said in a statement.
Julio, the 10th named storm of the Pacific hurricane season, could dump up to 6 inches of rain in the area.
Emergency officials worry shanty towns built in dry river beds could be overwhelmed by flash floods if heavy rains fall in the mountains behind Los Cabos.
Migrants from southern Mexico flock to the region to work in construction or at resorts, many building makeshift shacks in low-lying areas out of car hoods, plywood and plastic tarps.
Julio is expected to weaken over the next couple of days and will likely be downgraded to a tropical depression by late Monday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said in a statement.
The storm's center was unlikely to reach the northern town of Ensenada where the Sempra liquefied natural gas terminal is scheduled to open next week, forecasts said.
No one 'fled', several areas which usually flookd have been occupied by shanty town in the outskits of Cabo. The city set up shelters and provided buses to transport the affected people to shelters, which are a regular occurance during the threat of storms. The storm began to break up over sub 26°C water west of the small town of Todos Santos, about 1 hr north of Cabo. The storm has been pretty lack luster so far, our Cabo Office recieved less than 3" of rain, there was some minor street flooding. No injuries and tourists were forced to enjoy the storm from the shelter of Cabo's many palapa bars.
The area wasn't 'pounded by rains' we needed this rain desperately, reserves were at an all time low and Baja usually gets about 90% of it's annual 7" of rainfall from one system. This was a good thing for the peninsula, things will green up in the deserts in a matter of days.
A few minor road washouts were reported along the Pacific Coast Highway near Todos Santos.
These storms are a usual occurance here and few pay a tropical storm much attention, for the most part it was a rainy Sunday, business as usual weekend.
Reporting LIVE from La Paz, Baja California Sur, 11:30PM MDT 22 miles from the current storm center... www.Bajainsider.com