Hurricane Rick weakens; blamed for one death

LOS CABOS, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Rick was more than a day away from the resorts of Baja California on Monday, but the 13-foot waves it kicked up already have killed one person in Los Cabos, which lies almost directly in the Category 1 storm’s forecast path.

Francisco Cota, the Los Cabos civil defense director, said a 38-year-old man was standing on a rocky point fishing when he was swept away by one of the big waves Sunday. Bystanders went to help the man, but by the time they got him out of the water, he was dead.

“We have established patrols on the beaches to keep people from going into the sea,” Cota said. Storm shelters were being opened at local schools, and patrol vehicles were making the rounds of low-lying neighborhoods with loudspeakers urging people to evacuate.

Hurricane Rick’s maximum sustained winds decreased Monday to 85 mph, down from its peak of 180 mph as a Category 5 storm last week, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Rick was moving north-northwest at about 7 mph.

The storm was expected to continue weakening and near the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula late today or early Wednesday, forecasters said.