Tropical Storm Ileana heads toward Los Cabos resorts bringing heavy rains

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Tropical Storm Ileana heads toward Los Cabos resorts bringing heavy rains

2024-09-14 08:04 Last Updated At：08:10

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities in Mexico's resort-studded Los Cabos area warned tourists and residents alike to stay inside Friday as Tropical Storm Ileana began to pound the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula with rain.

Ileana formed Thursday off the Pacific coast of Mexico and was lumbering north at 7 mph (11 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The forecast path would take it over or near the twin resorts of San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas.

Ileana was centered about 35 miles (55 kilometers) east-northeast of Cabo San Lucas, the center said in a Friday afternoon advisory. Maximum sustained winds were at 40 mph (65 kph), and Ileana is forecast to move near or over the southern portion of the Baja California peninsula Friday evening and over the southern and central Gulf of California this weekend.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for portions of the Baja California Peninsula, including Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. Forecasters predicted 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters) of rain would fall with Ileana, and up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) was possible for coastal areas of Michoacan, Colima, and Jalisco states through Friday.

Tropical storm conditions are expected to begin in portions of Baja California Sur during the next several hours where Tropical Storm Warnings are in effect. This heavy rainfall will bring a risk of flash flooding and mudslides to portions of western Mexico and southern Baja California.

Juan Manuel Arce Ortega, from Los Cabos Civil Protection, said, "The entire municipalities of La Paz and Los Cabos are already on red alert. This means that efforts are already underway to inform the population, as well as the implementation (of measures) and evacuation to temporary shelters.”

They also urged residents to avoid crossing rivers, streams, and low areas where they can be swept away by water.

All schools in Los Cabos were also suspended Friday due to the storm.

Óscar Cruces Rodríguez of Mexico’s federal Civil Protection said in a statement that residents should avoid leaving their homes until the storm passes and if residents are in an area at risk of flooding to find temporary shelters.

Authorities prepared 20 temporary shelters in San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, according to Los Cabos Civil Protection.

At the Hacienda Beach Club and Residences in Cabo San Lucas, valet worker Alan Galvan said the rain arrived late Thursday night and has been constant. “The rain isn't very strong right now, but the waves are choppy," he said.

“The guests are very calm and already came down for coffee,” Galvan said. “There's some flights canceled but everything is ok at the moment.” Galvan said they are awaiting further advisories from authorities.

Rain remained consistent through Los Cabos Friday afternoon, with several roads flooded and some resorts stacking up sandbags on their perimeters. Some people were still walking around boat docks with their umbrellas.

“The priority has to be safety, starting with the workers. We always have to check on our colleagues who live in risk areas,” said Lyzzette Liceaga, a tour operator at Los Cabos.

We give them the information shared by the authorities — firefighters in risk areas — so that they can go to the shelters if necessary,” she added.

Votes are being counted in the election for a truncated government in Indian-controlled Kashmir

2024-10-08 15:52 Last Updated At：16:01

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Votes were being counted Tuesday in the recent election for a largely powerless local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir, the first since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the disputed region of its special status five years ago.

Thousands of additional police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled roads and guarded 28 counting centers as officials tallied votes. A final result was expected to be declared later Tuesday by the region’s electoral office.

Nearly 8.9 million people were eligible to vote in the election that began on Sept. 18 and concluded on Oct. 1. The overall turnout was 64% across the three phases, according to official data.

It was first such vote in a decade and the first since Modi’s Hindu nationalist government scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s long-held semi-autonomy in 2019.

The unprecedented move downgraded and divided the former state into two centrally governed union territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir. Both are ruled directly by New Delhi through its appointed administrators along with unelected bureaucrats and security setup. The move — which largely resonated in India and among Modi supporters — was mostly opposed in Kashmir as an assault on its identity and autonomy amid fears that it would pave way for demographic changes in the region.

The region has since been on edge with civil liberties curbed and media gagged.

India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. The nuclear-armed rivals have fought two of their three wars over the territory since they gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947.

Early results may give an indication of the vote's direction. However, exit polls by major television channels in last two days projected the regional National Conference emerging as a single largest party followed by the Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Such mandate is likely to be seen as a referendum against Modi's 2019 move.

The National Conference fought the election in alliance with India’s main opposition Congress party.

Their coalition may still need support of some seats to form the government, that is likely to come from Peoples Democratic Party, another Kashmiri group. Five seats are appointed and 90 elected, so a party or coalition would need at least 48 of the 95 total seats to form a government.

The vote will allow Kashmir to have its own truncated government and a regional legislature, called an assembly, rather than being directly under New Delhi’s rule.

However, there will be a limited transition of power from New Delhi to the assembly as Kashmir will remain a “union territory” — directly controlled by the federal government — with India’s Parliament as its main legislator. Kashmir’s statehood must be restored for the new government to have powers similar to other states of India.

The region’s last assembly election was held in 2014, after which the BJP for the first time ruled in a coalition with the local Peoples Democratic Party. But the government collapsed in 2018, after the BJP withdrew from the coalition.

Polls in the past have been marked with violence, boycotts and vote-rigging, even though India called them a victory over separatism.

Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.

This version has corrected that there are 95 seats, 90 of them elected and five appointed, and 48 would be a majority.

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