LOS CABOS, Mexico — Hurricane Norbert slumped to tropical storm force off Mexico's Baja California peninsula on Sunday. It pounded fishing villages and damaged more than 1,000 homes while kicking up dangerous surf farther north along the California coast.
Norbert peaked as a Category 3 hurricane early Saturday with sustained wind of 120 mph, but by Sunday afternoon, it was a rapidly weakening tropical storm with winds of 50 mph.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm was likely to fade as it bends toward the coast of the peninsula by midweek, bringing more heavy rains to the Baja desert and the U.S. Southwest.
Though it has stayed away from land, Norbert passed near enough to the coast in recent days to drench fishing villages and resorts, and pound beaches.
High surf and waves broke a retaining wall and flooded the fishing village of Puerto San Carlos, said Venustiano Perez, mayor of the municipality of Comondu, which encompasses the village and is about 300 miles north of the tip of the peninsula.
The state government reported that 500 people there had gone to shelters and health officials were taking steps to fight mosquitoes in stagnant water to prevent the spread of dengue. At least 2,000 people were evacuated from Los Cabos, La Paz and Comondu, said the state government's civil protection director Carlos Rincon.
The hurricane was causing high surf along the beaches of Southern California and contributing to rainstorms across the Southwest.
Earlier, the storm toppled trees and knocked out electricity in parts of Los Cabos. Firefighters rescued several people from vehicles stranded in flooded streets, said Wenceslao Pettit, public safety director in Cabo San Lucas.
Ports in the area popular with American tourists remained closed to navigation and police officers were sent to the evacuated neighborhoods to prevent looting, Pettit added.
The Miami-based Hurricane Center said Norbert was centered about 180 miles southwest of Punta Eugenia, Mexico, and was heading west-northwest at 8 mph.
