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Hurricane tears off roofs

Hurricane Humberto blew off rooftops, toppled trees and knocked out power as it blew past the British Atlantic island of Bermuda. But officials said Thursday that the Category 3 storm caused no reported deaths.

"We've made it through and everyone is safe," Premier David Burt said. "That's what is most important."

Security Minister Wayne Caines said power had been restored to most customers by midday Thursday and emergency crews were clearing roads of power lines damaged by the hurricane, which had winds of about 120 mph at its nearest approach to the island Wednesday night.

Caines said government offices would reopen Friday, though schools would remain closed.

"The country is getting back on its feet and the good news is there was no loss of life," he said.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Humberto had become a post-tropical cyclone out in the Atlantic, but would still kick up high surf at Bermuda and on the U.S. coast for a few days.

The storm had maximum sustained winds of 100 mph late Thursday, with tropical storm-force winds extending outward for 380 miles. The storm was centred about 525 miles south-southwest of Cape Race, Newfoundland, and moving to the northeast at 20 mph.

Meanwhile, a brush with land near Puerto Vallarta knocked newly formed Hurricane Lorena back down to tropical storm force, though forecasters said it would soon become a hurricane again on a track that would carry it close to the Los Cabos resorts at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula by midday Friday.

The storm's centre came onshore in darkness in the western state of Colima, whipping palm trees about with its strong winds and lashing the area with sheets of rain.

Lorena flooded streets, washed out roads and touched off minor slides in 10 municipalities. Dozens of trees were downed, and there were power outages in some areas.

Water topped the banks of an arroyo and swamped some homes in the port city of Manzanillo, where 21 people sought refuge at a temporary shelter at a school, state Gov. José Ignacio Peralta said Thursday.

Mexican officials voiced concern that some parts of southern Mexico, which have seen a lack of rainfall, could suffer dangerous flash floods and landslides unleashed by torrential rain.



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