Hurricane Sideswipes Mexican Coast

Hurricane Pauline raked Mexico’s Pacific coast with winds up to 120 mph Wednesday, toppling trees and small homes as 30-foot waves battered the shoreline.

Mexican authorities extended a hurricane warning from Huatulco to the major resorts of Acapulco and Zihuatenejo as Pauline hugged the coast and churned northwest at 13 mph.

While forecasters were unsure of Pauline’s exact path, they feared the hurricane could target Acapulco, Mexico’s most populated Pacific resort with 2.9 million inhabitants.

“Preparations to protect life and property in the warning area should be rushed to completion,” the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami advised, calling Pauline’s winds “life-threatening.”

This southern resort, meanwhile, was hit by high winds and heavy rains much of the day but no casualties were reported.

Several villages suffered damage near the Huatulco airport, which closed for Pauline’s passage. The hurricane then roared past Puerto Escondido, about 70 miles west of here.

In Las Cruces near the airport, cardboard and wooden shacks lost roofs, and walls crumbled on some buildings.

Otilio Jimenez Zarate, 27, wrapped in a waterlogged white blanket and holding his 4-year old son Marcelo after his roof was destroyed, said he was headed to shelter.

“We don’t have a place to sleep anymore,” said Jimenez Zarate, whose wife Inocencia carried a garbage bag on her head and one in her hands.

“This is all our clothes. It’s all we have left,” she said.

Pauline’s eye touched land earlier Wednesday west of Huatulco, not far from Puerto Angel, and flooding was reported in parts of Oaxaca and Chiapas states in southernmost Mexico.

Uprooted palm trees blocked sidewalks in Huatulco and downed power lines danced in the wind.

As towering waves crashed over a causeway, tourists huddled in hotels and hundreds of Mexicans sought refuge in emergency shelters. Pieces of roofing flew in the heavy winds.

At 8 p.m. PDT Wednesday, Pauline was about 135 miles southeast of Acapulco, but the center warned that the hurricane’s path remained highly unpredictable.

“A slight turn inland would result in Pauline weakening, but would pose a continued serious flood and wind threat for mountainous areas,” the center reported.

“A slight turn offshore would allow Pauline to retain much of its current potentially destructive strength.”

Hurricane specialist Ed Rappaport in Miami said El Nino could have added to Pauline’s punch.

“The Pacific waters are somewhat warmer than normal as a result of El Nino,” he said. “Although we haven’t seen more tropical storms this year, we have seen a few more intense hurricanes.”