800 in Baja California seek safe shelter from storms
By Omar Millan Gonzalez
Originally published January 22, 2010 at 1:22 p.m., updated January 22, 2010 at 2:58 p.m.
The series of storms that pounded the border region chased nearly 800 people from their homes in Baja California and forced the closure of a key bridge south of Ensenada, authorities said.
In Tijuana, however, emergency personnel remained focused for a second day on the search for two children, 2 and 5, who were in a Honda Civic swept away by a current Wednesday night in the Los Laureles area. The body of their 10-year-old sister has been found.
Tijuana Fire Capt. Carlos Carreño said 130 firefighters and volunteers were searching across the city.
The current that carried them away empties into the Tijuana River, which crosses into U.S. territory. Alfredo Escobedo, Baja California director of Civil Protection, said San Diego authorities had been asked to help in the search.
Farther south, the agricultural community of San Quintin was cut off after authorities closed a highway bridge at San Vicente damaged by a rain-fed creek. The bridge is about 10 miles south of downtown Ensenada and is used by north-south travelers of the peninsula.
Flooding and potential mudslides chased about 580 people from their homes in the Ensenada area and they were being housed in shelters, according to the Civil Protection.
In Tijuana, about 215 had fled to shelters, 115 of them at the municipal auditorium, Escobedo said.
The city’s main thoroughfares remained flooded Friday and mudslides were reported in the critical highways that cross east and south. Around 200 pieces of heavy machinery were on the streets doing cleanup, said the city’s urban development department.
Authorities continued to advise residents to remain home unless they absolutely had to travel, and public schools remained closed until Monday.
The state government announced Friday afternoon that a section of highway in the mountainous Centinela-La Rumorosa stretch was closed because of snow.
The closure is at kilometer 26 of the toll road that connects Mexicali to cities in the western part of the state, including Tecate, Tijuana and Rosarito Beach.
Officials said the closure will remain in effect until further notice. For more information on the status of the highway in the La Rumorosa area, call 011-52 (686) 575-0202 or 011-52 (686) 575-0207.
Governor José Guadalupe Osuna said that, along with the trans-peninsular highway south of Ensenada, a 40-meter stretch of the San Felipe-Ensenada highway in the northeast of the state, in an area known as El Chinero, suffered damage that forced the closure of the highway.
http://www.signonsan...shelter-storms/
