Hurricane Henriette bears down on mainland Mexico

LOS CABOS, Mexico, Sept 6 (Reuters) Hurricane Henriette smacked into farming states in mainland Mexico yesterday, dumping heavy rain and snapping palm trees after pummeling the Pacific beach resort of Los Cabos.

Henriette, a relatively weak Category 1 storm that killed seven people including a foreign tourist as it traveled up the Pacific coast, swept into the Gulf of California with maximum sustained winds of 75 miles (120 km) and stronger gusts.

Rain from the storm's outer edges flooded streets, ripped down signs and battered the Pacific states of Sonora and Sinaloa, where high winds forced vacationers into shelters in the resorts of Mazatlan and Los Mochis.

Crashing waves destroyed a pier west of the Sonoran state capital Hermosillo and closed fishing ports along the coast, local media said.

The eye of Henriette was due to hit tomato- and corn-producing Sinaloa later the afternoon, yesterday according to the US National Hurricane Center, which warned of coastal surges of up to five feet (1.52 meters) and isolated downpours of up to 12 inches (30 cm) in mountainous areas.

A storm last year in Sinaloa ripped through the tomato crop, pushing up prices blamed for a brief inflation spike.

''No significant change in strength is expected until landfall. Weakening is forecast once Henriette moves inland over mainland Mexico later today and tonight,'' the hurricane center said.

Mexican airport operator GAP shut its international airport at Los Mochis yesterday afternoon, but reopened Los Cabos airport, on the tip of the Baja California peninsula, after Henriette left it unscathed.

Henriette killed six people over the weekend when it dumped rain around the resort of Acapulco as a tropical storm. A middle-aged foreign woman was killed walking on the beach on Monday as the storm's approach sent 13-foot (4-meter) waves crashing onto the shore along the Baja California peninsula.

Thousands of mainly US tourists spent most of Tuesday sheltered inside their hotels.

Although the storm brought intense rain and winds to the normally sunny, desert-like state of Baja California, emergency authorities did not report any major damage.

Residents waiting out the storm in the city of La Paz were shaken by a magnitude 5 earthquake on Tuesday night, but no injuries or damage were reported.

In the Caribbean, rains from Hurricane Felix soaked Honduras yesterday, threatening dangerous flooding and mudslides after killing four people in neighboring Nicaragua.

REUTERS PBB RN0623