La Paz, Mexico – Residents dragged trees from their yards in this hurricane-battered city Sunday as Tropical Storm John made a soggy march up the Baja California peninsula, soaking fishing villages and retirement communities and threatening flooding in parts of the U.S. southwest.
The weakening storm hurled rain on the normally arid Baja, threatening flash floods. Forecasters said there could be up to 18 inches of rain in isolated areas.
The storm also was expected to dump up to 3 inches of rain in desert areas from Southern California to west Texas in the next few days and could cause some flooding, said meteorologist Eric Blake of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
President Vicente Fox visited Los Cabos on Sunday and was headed to La Paz to survey the damage.
John was a Category 2 hurricane, with winds of 110 mph, when it hit the southern tip of the peninsula late Friday, but officials reported no deaths and little destruction, though some shantytown shacks were blown down.
