Hurricane Paul sweeps Moses Lake man to sea
SAN JOSE DEL CABO, Mexico (AP) — Moses Lake resident Paul Skoor, 65, and his sister were identified as being swept to sea in Mexico Monday during Hurricane Paul.
Off the coast of Cabo San Lucas, officials are searching for the body of Skoor, who was swept away by the waves while he was walking along the beach with his wife and sister. Gilberto Guzman, manager of the SolMar Hotel, said "an enormous wave" swept Skoor and his sister out to sea late Monday. Hotel staff were able to save the sister.
The hurricane also took the life of a 23-year-old Mexican fisherman Monday after he slipped off rocks being battered by the rough sea in the coastal community of Todos Santos, north of Los Cabos, said Baja California Sur civil defense director Jose Gajon
Since Monday, Hurricane Paul weakened to a tropical storm, easing the threat Wednesday to resort cities and surrounding villages at the tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula.
Paul's top winds fell to near 45 mph and the storm was expected to weaken further before slipping just south of the twin resorts of San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, known jointly as Los Cabos.
By early Thursday, Paul is forecast to hit mainland Mexico around the state of Sinaloa, unleashing rain that could cause dangerous flooding, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
Paul's maximum sustained winds had reached 110 mph on Monday, making it a Category 2 hurricane. It was the third hurricane to threaten the Pacific coast's resort areas this season.
Early Wednesday the storm was 75 miles west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas and about 245 miles west-southwest of Mazatlan on the mainland. It was moving northeast about 9 mph.
A tropical storm warning was in effect for the tip of Baja.
Known for their rugged beauty, San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas are popular with sports fishermen and celebrities and famous for world-class golf courses and pristine beaches flanked by cactus-dotted deserts.
Streets were already flooded with ankle-deep water in Cabo San Lucas, where authorities closed schools and opened eight shelters Tuesday. Later police drove through neighborhoods, calling on people to take refuge.
City government spokesman Jorge Castaneda said at least 1,000 residents were being evacuated, most from shantytowns in areas at high risk for flooding.
Tourists were taking the wet weather in stride.
Dave Snow, 47, and Shauna Grady, 39, of Boulder, Colo., walked the rain-soaked streets of San Jose del Cabo early Tuesday after Paul forced them to postpone their stay in Cabo Pulmo, an exposed stretch of coast to the north that is popular among divers.
"If it had stayed at hurricane level, it would have been scarier," Snow said. "It seems pretty mellow now."
In Cabo San Lucas, hotel guests played board games in lobbies or read in their rooms.