La Paz Mexico Travels: WRAP Henriette slams into resorts on the tip of Baja California

SHOTLIST
Los Cabos, 4 September 2007
1. Wide of fallen motorway sign, pan left to motorway
2. Wide of pick up truck in street after hurricane Henriette
3. Mid of trees with blowing wind
4. Wide of boy riding bicycle in flooded street
5. Wide vehicle driving through flooded street
6. Various of people looking at the sea
7. Various of San Jose del Cabo beach
8. Wide of fallen motorway sign
Cabo San Lucas, 4 September 2007
9. Wide of strong winds blowing trees around a resort
10. Wide of palm trees blowing in the wind
11. Mid of Mexican President Felipe Calderon walking to podium
12. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Felipe Calderon, President of Mexico:
“Another hurricane is heading towards Mexico. Hurricane Felix, which will probably hit Chiapas, and I want to tell you. I come here to Chiapas, and now I am heading to the coast to lead the prevention tasks for the hurricane. I want to tell people, especially those in the coast, if they are listening to me, or please let them know through the press or by word of mouth, that the people who live by the shore of rivers or those who live in the gullies and that have in the past experienced mudslides, mobilise to safer places.”
13. Wide of torrential rain falling over town
14. Wide of man wading through flooded street, cars driving by
15. Wide of cars driving through water
16. Mid of winds blowing palm trees
17. Wide of police pickup truck driving past with officers in rain gear standing in back
18. Wide of downed palm tree
19. Wide of palm tree leaning over
20. Mid of palm trees blowing in the wind, zoom-out
21. Driving shot of car driving through rain
STORYLINE:
As Felix walloped Central America’s remote Miskito coastline, Henriette slammed into resorts on the tip of Baja California as a record-setting hurricane season got even wilder on Tuesday with twin storms making landfall on the same day.
Packing driving rain that fell in near horizontal sheets, Henriette’s eye struck Los Cabos at around 2 p.m. (2000 GMT), said a specialist at the U.S. National Hurricane Centre in Miami.
Henriette had top winds of 140 kilometres per hour (85 miles per hour) as it struck Baja resorts popular with Hollywood stars and sports fishermen.
Airports were closed, leaving tourists and residents to face driving rain and 4.5-meter (15-foot) waves that sent plumes of whitewater crashing against the main marina.
Waves washed away huge amounts of sand, licking at the walls of beachfront hotels and covering much of the resorts’ natural stone arches just offshore.
The storm knocked out power, uprooted trees and flooded streets.
Catamarans crashed against their moorings and palm trees bent in the wind before the eye moved directly over Cabo San Lucas, bringing a brief calm to those huddled inside hotels.
At 8 p.m. (0000 GMT), Henriette’s sustained winds dropped to 120 kph (75 mph) as it moved 80 kilometres (40 miles) inland, on a path to drench Mexico’s northern deserts and then drop an inch or two (up to 5 centimetres) of rain on the U.S. southwest on Thursday night.
On Tuesday, Mexican President Felipe Calderon had urged people living in hurricane-risk areas to move elsewhere.
“I want to tell people, especially those in the coast, if they are listening to me, or please let them know through the press or by word of mouth, that the people who live by the shore of rivers or those who live in the gullies and that have in the past experienced mudslides, mobilise to safer places,” Calderon said.
The Mexican government declared a state of emergency in southern Baja California.