Hurricane Otis strengthens off Mexico's Baja coast
Posted on: Saturday, 1 October 2005, 11:40 CDT
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Hurricane Otis edged toward Mexico's Baja California peninsula on Saturday after winds strengthened overnight to 100 mph (160 km/p/h), leading authorities to evacuate some high-risk areas near its path.
Otis, a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, was due to hit land in a sparsely populated part of the peninsula early on Monday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
"The center of Otis is currently forecast to remain west of southern Baja California. However ... any motion to the right of the forecast track could bring the center near southern Baja California today," the center said.
A large southern stretch of the Baja peninsula's western coast was put on hurricane warning.
The storm was 140 miles west-southwest of the Los Cabos beach resorts at the peninsula's southern tip, popular with U.S. tourists for its golf courses and yachting.
Otis veered slightly away from the resorts but the hurricane center warned it would likely turn toward the north and pick up forward speed over the next 24 hours.
Authorities wary of heavy rain and wind gusts evacuated 450 people mostly living near river beds and other high-risk areas around the westernmost resort of Cabo San Lucas.
Source: REUTERS
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