La Paz (Mexico): Hurricane Norbert, which ravaged Mexico's Pacific coast before being downgraded to a tropical depression, has claimed three lives in the north-west state of Sonora, civil defence officials said today.
Norbert made landfall in Mexico as a category two hurricane yesterday, ripping off roofs, knocking down trees and leaving more than 20,000 homes without electricity, local authorities said.
The storm was downgraded today to a tropical depression after it largely dissipated, the Mexican weather service said.
Norbert's wind speeds today were around 65 kilometers per hour, with gusts of up to 85 kilometers per hour, the weather service said, adding that it expected the storm to peter out altogether by day s end.
It had been classified upon landfall as a Category Two hurricane on the five-tiered Saffir-Simpson scale, used in the Western Hemisphere to anticipate the property damage, storm surges and flooding that a given hurricane can unleash.
In the Baja California capital of La Paz, the once powerful storm knocked out power to 13,000 homes, and to 8,000 more in Ciudad Constitution, the Federal Electricity Commission reported.
La Paz airport suspended operations yesterday, although the tourist resort of Los Cabos remained open. Hotel reservations were down by around 40 per cent mainly in Los Cabos and Loreto, tourism officials said.
