Associated Press From The Blade

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico — A weakening Tropical Storm Lidia marched up Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula on Saturday after flooding streets and homes in resort cities, stranding tourists and leaving at least four people dead.

Lidia’s maximum sustained winds dropped to 40 mph (65 kph), just above the minimum threshold for a tropical storm, as it passed over a sparsely populated area of the peninsula that is home to a large nature reserve. It was forecast to head back out over the open Pacific later in the day and lose more strength.

Authorities have said the death toll could rise over the weekend as emergency crews surveyed the damage in villages with ramshackle homes. One person was considered missing and video broadcast on local networks showed vehicles being swept away by flooded rivers.

The mayor of the twin resorts of Los Cabos, Arturo de la Rosa Escalante, said Friday that two people were electrocuted by power lines, a woman drowned after being swept away by water on a flooded street and a baby was ripped from its mother’s arms as she crossed a flooded area.

State Tourism Secretary Luis Genero Ruiz said about 20,000 foreign tourists were stranded after airlines suspended flights to the area.

About 1,400 people had sought refuge at storm shelters as the storm flooded streets and stranded tourists.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Lidia made landfall early Friday west of La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur state.

The storm was centered about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Punta Eugenia on Saturday morning and was heading northwest at about 12 mph (19 kph).

Earlier Lidia spread rains over a broad swath of Mexico including the capital, where it was blamed for flooding that briefly closed the city’s airport this week.

The hurricane center forecast that some of the storm’s tropical moisture would affect the U.S. desert Southwest over the Labor Day weekend, including parts of western Arizona, southern California and southern Nevada, in the form of scattered showers and thunderstorms.

Far out over the Atlantic, meanwhile, Hurricane Irma was following a course that could bring it near the eastern Caribbean Sea next week. It had maximum sustained winds near 110 mph (175 kph) and was moving west at 15 mph (24 kph).

There was no immediate threat to land, and no coastal watches or warnings were in effect.

For more on this story go to: http://www.toledoblade.com/World/2017/09/02/Tropical-Storm-Lidia-weakens-after-4-dead-in-Mexico-s-Baja.html

IMAGE: The Weather Channel