Hurricane Odile and its 110 mph winds caused damage and some injuries in Cabo San Lucas as it traveled north along Baja California.
San Diego could see rain showers and thunderstorms from the Category 2 hurricane.
When Odile arrived Sunday in the Mexican resort town known for hotels, beaches and fishing, it was the strongest cyclone on record for the region, according to The Weather Channel.
San Diego couple Craig and Jill Newell are in Cabo for their honeymoon. They were at dinner when a hotel employee told them that they needed to be escorted back to their hotel using tunnels.
That's when they knew things were getting serious.
Their concrete hotel shook constantly, and they had to put a mattress against the window to keep glass from coming in, Craig said Monday in a phone interview with NBC 7.
"It was like being in an earthquake in a wind storm. It was deafening. Debris was hitting the sides of the building. Debris was raining down on the building," Craig said. "You could hear pieces of roof hitting the building, shattering. Anything that was loose in the foyer was being thrown around."
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Craig is a firefighter in San Diego and experienced in emergency situations, but said he's never seen anything like this.
"There are many boats sunk in the marina. Docks have been ripped from pilings. There's a lot of destruction in town. We see roofs ripped off buildings, windows blown out," he said.
The couple is scheduled to come home tomorrow on a Southwest flight, but they aren't if they'll make it because the roads are washed out, Craig said.
Close to two dozen flights in and out of Cabo San Lucas were canceled, and ports in Baja California were ordered closed. A hurricane warning was in effect from Punta Abreojos to Loreto.
If San Diego County is to get any precipitation from this storm, it won’t arrive until Wednesday or Thursday.
