Mexico readies airlift of tourists stranded by hurricane
AFP
September 17, 2014, 3:43 am
Mexico readies airlift of tourists stranded by hurricaneAFP Mexico readies airlift of tourists stranded by hurricane
Mexico prepared a major operation to airlift tourists stranded by Hurricane Odile after it slammed into the Baja California peninsula causing widespread damage.
Military aircraft and commercial airlines were being sent to the hard-hit resort towns of La Paz and Los Cabos, where holiday makers in Odile's path have been hunkering down for two days.
The government "is establishing an air bridge to evacuate tourists who were stranded by the passage of Odile," which has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, a press release from the national tourism office said.
Residents carry a fallen tree on the street after Hurricane Odile hit La Paz, in Baja California. Photo: Reuters
Officials were hoping to get the operation up and running later Tuesday, although airports were still shuttered and struggling to get back to business after being forced to close.
Odile struck late Sunday, forcing some 26,000 foreigners and 4,000 Mexican beachgoers to take shelter in area hotels.
But even well-fortified resorts were not spared the fury of the hurricane, which smashed hotel windows, flooded rooms and sent palm trees flying into swimming pools.
"I'm disappointed about my vacation, but above all my heart aches for the people from here who lost everything," said one American tourist, Tifani Brown, 34, who had arrived from California just hours ahead of the hurricane on Sunday.
"It's one thing to see hurricanes on TV. It's another to live them," she said.
Power lines and debris are knocked over on a street after Hurricane Odile hit. Photo: Reuters
Officials said there was no known loss of life from the storm, which nevertheless was responsible for injuring scores of local residents and visitors.
More than 1,000 troops have deployed to the disaster area, which was still mostly without electricity and running water. Scores of wood-plank and tin-roof homes were leveled in one neighborhood.
At 1500 GMT, Odile was 40 miles (65 kilometers) southeast of the town of Bahia de Los Angeles, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 60 miles (95 kilometers) per hour.
The storm also caused widespread damage, demolishing homes, forcing airports to close, and causing flooding that marooned the picturesque resort towns and hotels of Los Cabos.
It also sparked an outbreak of looting that left electronic stores ransacked and supermarkets bereft of necessities like water, staple food items and toilet paper.
People salvage the useful remains from houses destroyed by Hurricane Odile in Los Cabos. Photo: AP
Odile crashed ashore as a category three hurricane in the five-scale Saffir-Simpson scale, packing winds of 205 kilometers (125 miles) an hour.
Thousand of local residents took refuge in schools and temporary shelters, while others rode out the storm in their humble houses.
Soledad Mayo, 52, sent four of her children to a neighbor's home while she stayed in her wooden house with her husband.
"We spent the night standing there, waiting to see what would be left of our house. But look, it took everything," she said, surrounded by rubble.
Even though Odile is weakening, forecasters said the danger from the storm is far from over.
The US National Hurricane Center in Miami warned about a continuing threat from storm surges and torrential downpours, as the storm moves toward the northwest and into mainland Mexico Wednesday.
