Hurricane Odile lashes Baja California with strong winds, heavy rains

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A man walks on a street where most power lines and light posts have been knocked down by Hurricane Odile in Los Cabos, Mexico. (Victor R. Caivano / Associated Press)

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A kid walks by a souvenir store damaged by Hurricane Odile on San Lucas’ main street in Los Cabos, Mexico. (Victor R. Caivano / Associated Press)

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Mexican soldiers try to stop people from looting a convenience store destroyed by Hurricane Odile, in Los Cabos, Mexico. (Victor R. Caivano / Associated Press)

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Maria Ramirez, left, puts the shoes on her one-year-old niece Maritza next to the remains of their home that was destroyed by Hurricane Odile in Los Cabos, Mexico. (Victor R. Caivano / Associated Press)

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Raimundo Diaz Cruz, left, and his wife Graciela Castillo, right, salvage wood beans and bricks to rebuild their house after it was destroyed by Hurricane Odile in Los Cabos, Mexico. (Victor R. Caivano / Associated Press)

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Strong winds blow palm trees on the beach in Los Cabos, as Hurricane Odile turned into a Category 4 hurricane. (Victor R. Caivano / Associated Press)

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Tourists sit on the concrete stairs in the service area of a resort after the designated shelter was destroyed by Hurricane Odile. (Victor R. Caivano / Associated Press)

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Tourists watch the ocean swells generated by Hurricane Odile from inside a swimming pool at a resort in Los Cabos, Mexico. (Victor R. Caivano / Associated Press)

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Tourists rest inside a shelter at a resort in Los Cabos, Mexico, as Hurricane Odile batters the Baja California Peninsula. (Victor R. Caivano / Associated Press)

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Waves in Cabo San Lucas. Hurricane Odile swirled menacingly toward Mexico’s Los Cabos resorts on Sept. 14, forcing authorities to evacuate high-risk areas and open shelters as the powerful storm threatened. (Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP/ Getty Images)

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The waves in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, as Hurricane Odile swirled menacingly toward Mexico’s Los Cabos resorts. (Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP/ Getty Images)

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A family from San Jose cover themselves with pillows as they sit on the concrete stairs in the service area of a resort after the designated area for shelter was destroyed by winds in Los Cabos, Mexico. (Victor R. Caivano / Associated Press)

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A view of an empty street in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, as Hurricane Odile made landfall. (Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP/ Getty Images)

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A child eats a piece of bread as families rest in a school serving as a shelter after being evacuated from their homes in Los Cabos, Mexico. (Victor R. Caivano / Associated Press)

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Strong waves hit the coast. (Oscar Ramirez / EPA)

By Tracy WilkinsonStaff Writer

Sept. 15, 2014 8:45 AM PT

Reporting from Mexico City — Hurricane Odile made landfall early Monday, punching the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula with strong winds and sending torrential rains across 10 Mexican states.

Rain and flooding forced evacuations along Mexico’s Pacific Coast and dozens of rescues of people from stranded cars, authorities said. The ferocious hurricane smashed small buildings and left more than 200,000 people without electricity, officials and residents said.

Foreign tourists and Mexicans took shelter in Los Cabos and other popular resort towns late Sunday as the storm approached. Authorities on Monday declared Baja California Sur a natural disaster.

The Category 3 hurricane, packing sustained winds of 115 mph, hit land around midnight local time; it was later downgraded to a Category 2. It came in the middle of a long Independence Day holiday weekend in Mexico, which had sent thousands of vacationers to Pacific beaches.

Odile was also churning the ocean, sending waves of up to 24 feet crashing onto Mexican shores, the national meteorological service said, urging “extreme caution” by fishermen and others engaged in maritime activities.

Luis Felipe Puente, head of the national public safety department, said via his Twitter account that Cabo San Lucas suffered substantial damage, including uprooted trees, downed light posts and broken windows at major hotels and other buildings. Waterlogged streets were full of debris early Monday.

There were no immediate reports of deaths, while local media reported several people had been injured by flying glass.

At 4 a.m., Odile, which at one point reached Category 4, was located about 30 miles south-southwest of La Paz and about 60 miles north-northwest of Cabo San Lucas.

The meteorological service warned of “landslides, river overflows, cut off roadways, flooding in low-lying areas and saturated sewerage systems in urban zones.”

“The population is called on to take extreme precautions and remain alert,” the service said.

For news from Mexico and the Americas, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter