Andres weakens to depression, back out to sea

Andres weakened from a tropical storm to a depression Wednesday as it headed out to sea after flooding homes and killing at least one person on Mexico's southwestern coast.

Wednesday, June 24th 2009, 11:56 am

By: News 9

Andres weakens to depression, back out to sea

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico (AP) -- Andres weakened from a tropical storm to a depression Wednesday as it headed out to sea after flooding homes and killing at least one person on Mexico's southwestern coast.
   Andres briefly flared up into the Eastern Pacific season's first hurricane Tuesday, skirting the coast south of the tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta.
   At 8 a.m. PDT (11 a.m. EDT, 1500 GMT), the center of the storm was located about 130 miles (200 kilometers) southwest of Cabo Corrientes and 230 miles (370 kilometers) southeast of the tip of Baja California, and moving to the northwest about 9 mph (15 kmh).
   Its winds weakened to 35 mph (55 kph) and the storm was expected to dissipate by Wednesday night, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
   To the south, rain caused flooding Monday in the resort of Acapulco that forced about 200 people to evacuate their homes. A fisherman drowned when choppy currents overturned his boat in a lagoon in Tecpan de Galeana, between Acapulco and Zihuatanejo, a state police report said.
   A light rain fell Tuesday night in Puerto Vallarta as tourists emptied beaches and retreated to hotel restaurants. Port authorities said the arrival of a Carnival cruise ship was rescheduled from Wednesday to July 1.
   Late Sunday, Andres became the first named storm of the eastern Pacific hurricane season, which began May 15 and ends Nov. 30. It was the latest arrival of a named storm in 40 years.