Hurricane Jimena Approaches Baja California

Hurricane Jimena, 31 Aug 2009A hurricane warning is in effect for the southern part of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, as Hurricane Jimena bears down on the area with 250-kilometer per hour winds.  

Local residents boarded up their homes and stockpiled food, and fishermen secured their vessels in preparation for Jimena, which was forecast to make landfall as early as Tuesday.  Some tourists decided to evacuate.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said in its latest report that Jimena was about 460 kilometers south of the popular resort area of Cabo San Lucas, moving northwest at 17 kilometers per hour.

The storm prompted the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to move an international meeting on tax havens from Los Cabos to Mexico City.  The two-day talks open Tuesday.

The U.S. State Department urged Americans to consider carefully the risks of travel to areas in Mexico that might be affected by the hurricane.

A travel alert issued Monday said Americans in areas likely to be affected by Jimena and who do not have access to adequate and safe shelter should consider leaving while commercial flights are still available.  U.S. officials say seating capacity on those flights may be extremely limited.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.