Powerful Hurricane Jimena buffets Mexico resort

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 9/1/09 | Jason Lange, Susy Buchanan

[NormsRevenge]

LOS CABOS, Mexico (Reuters) – Hurricane Jimena, an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, slammed Mexico's Baja California peninsula on Tuesday, drenching the Los Cabos resort area where tourists hunkered in boarded-up hotels.

Sheets of rain poured down from gray skies as Jimena's howling winds hit the tip of the peninsula, home to world-class golf courses, yachting marinas and five-star hotels. The hurricane was set to make landfall on Wednesday in a sparsely populated area farther up the peninsula.

Hotels nailed boards over their windows, wrapped exposed furniture with plastic and turned conference rooms into storm shelters with camp bedding and board games.

A swanky beachfront hotel at Cabo San Lucas tied a fountain statue of sea god Neptune to palm trees and anchored a lobby chandelier to the ground with ropes to stop them blowing away.

Residents, many of them poor hotel workers or builders, huddled in shelters. Torrential rain flooded main roads, turned streets in one shanty town into muddy rivers and caused a sewage system in the town of San Jose del Cabo to overflow.

Many tourists were trapped as flights out were canceled.

"I've never experienced anything remotely like this," said real estate investor Reg Wilson, 36, from Orange County, California. "I have no idea what to expect. We don't have a lot of options so we just have to ride this out."

Jimena came close overnight to becoming a Category 5 storm -- the top of the Saffir-Simpson scale and potentially devastating -- but winds later calmed to 135 mph with higher gusts, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

[NormsRevenge]

If we're lucky, Jimena swirls some moisture northward to SoCal

This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite handout image shows Hurricane Jimena located south of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico on August 31, 2009. Hurricane Jimena sent tourists fleeing Tuesday as it bore down on Mexico's Baja California, while fishing communities on the sparsely populated peninsula toughed it out. (AFP/NOAA/File)

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Updated map showing the predicted route of Hurricane Jimena across Baja California. Hurricane Jimena sent tourists fleeing Tuesday as it bore down on Mexico's Baja California, while fishing communities on the sparsely populated peninsula toughed it out. (AFP/Graphic/Laurence Saubadu)

[mc5cents]

Powerful Hurricane Jimena buffets Mexico

What, did it come in singing Margaritaville?

Oh, sorry. Thats Jimmy Buffett, not Jimena Buffets.

[Slicksadick]

View Tropical Weather View Hurricane Archive

[jessduntno]

Maybe it will work its way up here and douse the fires in LA...that will be a change...something from Mexico that will help cut down on public services...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Let’s hope that happens.

[NormsRevenge]

Jimena buffets

..

Time for a little Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville as the winds howl and the rain beats down.. hope they don't run out of lime.

Be safe, touristas and locals.

[Senator Goldwater]

Just what I was thinking.

Not a bad time for torrential rains in Southern CA.

But it’ll do a number on some of those substandard buildings in the Baja.

[NormsRevenge]

got ya covered..

;-)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2329731/posts?page=7#7

[wbill]

Reg Wilson, 36, from Orange County, California. "I have no idea what to expect. We don't have a lot of options so we just have to ride this out.

Howzabout LEAVING? This storm wasn't a surprise to anyone with a half dozen brain cells.....

When a what amounts to a 100-mile wide tornado heads your way, you bug the hell out. What's there to think about?

[posterchild]

It don’t want to land in no San Diego

[ThomasThomas]

I had an teacher for Assembly language used this hotel to explain the difference between FIFO and FILO. I can only remember once getting hugh rain storms from a former hurricane. Usually it’s just “Surfs Up!”.

[NormsRevenge]

You can see the storm edges at bottom of pic.. if the humidity gets bumped up some, that's better than nothing..

[NormsRevenge]

Jimena weakens to Category 3 off Baja California

ap on yahoo

link

MIAMI – Hurricane Jimena has weakened to a Category 3 hurricane as it threatens vacation resorts on Mexico's Baja California peninsula.

A hurricane warning in effect for the southern part of the peninsula, which was already being pummeled by heavy winds, battering waves and bands of intense rain.

Maximum sustained winds had dropped to around 125 mph (205 kph), and the storm was moving north-northwest near 12 mph (19 kph) Tuesday afternoon.

[steve86]

When a what amounts to a 100-mile wide tornado heads your way, you bug the hell out. What's there to think about?

You do that HOW with flights and ferries cancelled? Dirt bike?

[Myrddin]

You do that HOW with flights and ferries cancelled? Dirt bike?

I was in Wilsonville, AL when hurricane Ivan came ashore. We finished dinner at 6:30 PM and found "shelter" notices taped to our hotel room doors. I called company travel and ordered a Hertz rental car to drive from Birmingham, AL to Salt Lake City, UT. My colleague dropped me at the airport at 10:30 PM EDT. I drove to Clarksville, TN and stopped to get some sleep. The next morning I continued until reaching Grand Island, NE. More sleep. Continued to SLC. Arrived at the airport at 8:20 PM MDT. 1800 miles point to point.

The dirt bike option sounds fun. I was in a Mazda6 for that drive. The Versys with some Pirelli MT60 Corsa tires might be just the ticket. My old DR650SE or a KLR650 with a big desert gas tank would be suitable as well.

[steve86]

A team from my town won the senior 250 class in the last Baja 500. I get tired just riding moderately fast for 10 miles off road — no way I could stay in front of the hurricane.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Hurricane Jimena buffets Mexico resort

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Jimmy Buffet’s in Cabo?

Sammy Hagar’s going to be pissed!

[Myrddin]

A team from my town won the senior 250 class in the last Baja 500. I get tired just riding moderately fast for 10 miles off road — no way I could stay in front of the hurricane.

I suppose it's a matter of experience. As a teen, I rode my bike through very technical stuff over distances 30 to 50 miles on a regular basis. I really miss doing that today. It's mostly a lack of opportunity right now. BTW, I'm approaching 1,600 miles on the Versys. It's a real sweetheart. Exactly what I needed for the freeway commute here in San Diego. I recently added a Givi D405ST windshield and the new, blue fender/chain guard. I do miss the riding the Roadliner. Perhaps next summer.