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U.S. Department of State

Odile leaves destruction as Polo threatens Mexico

Doyle Rice and Natalie DiBlasio
USA TODAY

Hurricane Odile may have petered out, but it's leaving a disaster in its wake.

Residents gather by a bonfire set inside a steel drum as they stand outside guarding their homes as they face a fourth day without power and running water following the blow from Hurricane Odile in Los Cabos, Mexico, on Sept. 17, 2014.

Flash floods in Texas, a missing sheriff's deputy in Austin and looting in Los Cabos have emergency crews scrambling in the U.S. and Mexico.

Odile was the 12th-strongest eastern Pacific hurricane on record. Most Pacific hurricanes typically head out to sea with little impact on land.

Odile was the 10th hurricane in the Pacific this year, of which seven have been "major" hurricanes, with wind speeds of at least 111 mph. It was also the 8th consecutive named storm to reach hurricane status, which hasn't happened since 1990, when 10 straight storms became hurricanes, National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said.

The search continues in Austin for a sheriff's deputy who disappeared Thursday when her car was swept away as she was checking low-water crossings near the Colorado River. Search crews located the deputy's car and retrieved it around 2 p.m. but have not found her.

Emergency officials responded to at least three other water rescues Thursday as floods swept through the Austin area.

Meanwhile, federal police in Mexico are struggling to restore order Los Cabos after looting emptied store shelves and unnerved residents who worried their homes could be next.

There have been reports of gunfire. Residents in Los Cabos lit large bonfires to try to protect their neighborhoods as they faced a fourth day without power or running water.

Los Cabos' heavily damaged international airport was being powered by an emergency generator from the Federal Electricity Commission.

The U.S. State Department advised stranded travelers to go there as soon as possible but to be prepared to wait as long as necessary to get on a flight out. At the airport, thousands lined up waiting to leave.

Now, Baja California Sur is bracing for yet another storm. Tropical Storm Polo, which was briefly a hurricane late Wednesday and early Thursday, is expected to pass by the southern tip of the Western Mexican state on Saturday.

As of 11 a.m. ET, Tropical Storm Polo had winds of 65 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was located about 285 miles south-southeast of the tip of Baja California, Mexico, and was moving to the west-northwest at 7 mph.

The active Pacific hurricane season is due in part to unusually warm seawater where the storms typically form, said Dan Collins, a research meteorologist with NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. Warm water is one of the ingredients needed to fuel hurricanes.

The wild Pacific season compares to a rather quiet season in the Atlantic, where only four hurricanes have formed. Only one, Arthur in July, hit the U.S.

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