US: Hurricane Ignacio pounded Mexico's Baja California yesterday with powerful 85 m.p.h. winds that knocked down trees and electricity poles in the semi-desert peninsula while heavy rains flooded roads.
Authorities evacuated 3,000 people from high-risk areas to shelters as Ignacio hovered almost stationary north-east of La Paz, a fishing town of 170,000 and a stop-off point for yachting enthusiasts from around the world.
The storm was moving away from the famous golf and fishing resort area of Los Cabos. TV images showed cars and pickup trucks stranded in flooded rural coastal roads and locals, knee-deep in water, using machetes to hack branches off fallen trees.
High, frothy waves pummelled the coast of La Paz, where the port and airport were shut. The winds had palm trees dancing and also toppling billboards and shop signs.
Mr Juan Manuel Rivera, head of Mexico's civil protection agency for the state of Baja California Sur, told local TV that 3,000 people had been evacuated.
Ignacio was downgraded to a Category 1 storm from Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson scale of 1 to 5 late on Sunday as sustained winds that had earlier reached 105 m.p.h. dropped to 90 m.p.h. with higher gusts.
The hurricane sprang from nowhere over the weekend. In less than 24 hours it developed from a weak tropical storm to a hurricane and headed for the Sea of Cortes, between the Baja California peninsula and the Mexican mainland.
The eye of the storm was 20 miles north-east of La Paz early yesterday and lurching north-west in the Sea of Cortes at just 2 m.p.h.