Hurricane Paul loses steam off Mexico west coast

Hurricane Paul weakened as it crawled toward Mexico's Pacific coast Tuesday, but schools and government offices were closed as the storm approached a lightly populated area. The hurricane lost punch as it neared the Baja California peninsula, with maximum sustained winds dropping to 120 kilometers per hour (75 miles per hour), the US National Hurricane Center said. "Hurricane Paul slows down and is weakening rapidly," the Miami-based center said in its 2100 GMT advisory, warning that "preparations to protect life and property should have been completed." Paul, which weakened during the day to a category one hurricane on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, was about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the town of Cabo San Lazaro on the southwestern coast of the peninsula. Moving north at 24 kph (15 mph), Paul was "barely a hurricane" and was expected to continue moving near or over Baja California's west coast during the next 12 hours, the center added. Isolated areas could see up to 25 centimeters (10 inches) of rainfall, the center said, adding that the storm could produce "life-threatening flash floods and mudslides" in mountainous areas. Paul was also expected to generate dangerous ocean swells and rip currents. Civil protection authorities in the state of Baja California Sur issued an alert and as a precaution they opened 133 shelters that can house around 30,000 people. "For safety reasons, work is suspended in all government offices," said Baja California Sur Governor Marco Covarrubias Villasenor. Authorities expected the hurricane to hit lightly-populated fishing areas. On the Atlantic, meanwhile, Hurricane Rafael was packing maximum sustained winds of 140 kph and was located about 210 kilometers southeast of Bermuda. Rafael -- the ninth hurricane of the Atlantic season -- was expected to pass east of Bermuda late Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center said. On the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, one man was killed over the weekend when his car was swept away in a flash flood generated by Rafael, then by a tropical storm. The body was found on Tuesday.