La Paz Mexico Travels: WRAP Norbert strengthens to Category 2 storm as it nears Baja California

SHOTLIST
Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur – 9 October 2008
1. Wide of beach near Cabo San Lucas
2. Various of tourists walking along marina
3. Wide of main street
4. Pan right of tourists walking
La Paz, Baja California Sur, 10 October 2008
5. Mid of Baja California Sur Governor Narciso Agundez at news conference at Government Palace
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Narciso Agundez, Governor of Baja California Sur:
“We are very worried because according to the trajectory that we are looking at, it is certain that Hurricane Norbert will hit land tomorrow in Baja California Sur. And with all the media and our various government forces reunited here, it will be much easier to provide protection for South Californians.”
7. Wide of news conference
8. Mid of officials attending conference
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) General Sergio Magana, Director of the Second Division of the Mexican Military:
“To the effect of helping, the third division of the military will be helping the fortieth and third sections. We have already moved personnel around to bring help where it is needed.”
10. Wide of news conference
La Paz, Baja California Sur – 10 October 2008
11. Various street scenes
12. Various of tourists walking along marina
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Eli Tubia, Texan Tourist:
“At the hotel we’re staying at, Casa Dorada, they kind of cleared out the beach, and the restaurants that they have on the beach they took all the furnishings away, all the paintings, everything removed. They’re storing them.”
14. Close up of local La Paz newspaper
15. Various of newspaper vendor
16. Wide of beach
17. Wide of street
18. Various of ship with sailors aboard
19. Pan left of naval tanker driving on street
20. Tilt down from flagpole to fisherman working on his boat
21. Fishing boats lined along beach front where they have been pulled ashore
STORYLINE
Fishermen pulled in their boats and hotels warned tourists away from beaches on Friday as Category 2 Hurricane Norbert bore down on Mexico’s southern Baja California Peninsula.
Norbert, with winds of near 105 miles per hour (165 kilometres per hour), was expected to hit land early on Saturday along a relatively unpopulated stretch north of the resort of Cabo San Lucas.
A hurricane warning was issued for the west coast of Baja California from Puerto San Andresito to Agua Blanca.
Forecasters said it would weaken somewhat before hitting land.
The government extended hurricane watches and storm warnings to mainland Mexico, mainly for the coast of the border state of Sonora.
Norbert is expected to sweep across Baja on Saturday, cross the Gulf of California and then head towards the Mexican mainland.
The storm’s remnants were expected to dump more rain on water-logged West Texas, where authorities were preparing for more flooding.
State and local officials plan to activate an emergency operations centre on Monday in Presidio, where an earthen levee is struggling to hold back the swollen Rio Grande.
The Governor of Baja California Sur state, Narciso Agundez, said officials were “very worried.”
“It is certain that it will hit land tomorrow in Baja California Sur,” one of two state that make up the peninsula, Agundez said.
Under overcast skies, fishermen hauled their boats onto beaches in La Paz, a port town on the peninsula’s eastern coast.
Yellow flags on beaches warned people to stay out of the water.
Eli and Claudia Tubia, on vacation from Texarkana, Texas, took a cruise on Wednesday night despite the coming storm, but their hotel in resort-dotted Cabo San Lucas was already storing outdoor furniture and paintings.
“They kind of cleared out the beach, and the restaurants that they have on the beach, they took all the furnishings away,” said Eli Tubia.