March 28, 2024
Tourists still stranded in Los Cabos after hurricane
CABO SAN LUCAS - Some people fantasize about being stranded at a tropical destination, especially when it's time for a vacation to end.

But the reality is anything but relaxing or stress-free for tourists in the resort area of Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico, where Hurricane Odile barrelled through last Sunday.

The storm left thousands of tourists stranded without power, water, phone service or other conveniences as they tried to figure out a way to get out of the area. In fact, the situation has become so challenging that rocker Sammy Hagar, scheduled to perform a birthday bash concert in the area the week of Oct. 7, has asked his fans to stay away.

Among the stranded tourists was Kate Pope, 27, who traveled to Cabo San Lucas from California with her sisters and friends for a bachelorette party. Instead of having the time of her life, she and the others spent a night huddled in a hotel basement and then on beds soaked from the flooding, Pope and her fiance, William Wilcox, told KTLA 5. The group spent nights in the dark, too, after hotel employees asked them not to use flashlights so as not to attract looters roaming outside.

An airlift involving military transport planes and commercial airliners evacuated more than 18,000 tourists in the last two days, Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, secretary of communications and transport, said Friday. He said most stranded tourists have been evacuated, but KTLA 5 reports that there were still thousands waiting to leave as of Thursday evening.

"The State Department arranged four charter flights that evacuated more than 500 U.S. citizens over the past 24 hours. And so far, thousands of American citizens have departed the area on evacuation flights," U.S. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said. (Source: USA Today)
Story Date: September 20, 2014
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