Thousands of people in the Baja California peninsula were trapped Sunday by floods triggered by rain-dumping Tropical Storm John, but no death or serious damage has been reported.

As a Category 2 hurricane, the storm churned onshore from the south of the peninsula on Saturday. As much as 45 centimeters of rains had fallen in isolated areas, according to local media reports.

Water overran the banks at a dam in the Baja California Sur state, isolating 15 towns.
 
About 15,000 people, including quite a number of foreign tourists, had been evacuated from the threatened areas in the peninsula.

Mexican President Vicente Fox visited the hardest-hit city of La Paz, and pledged to provide assistance to the suffering residents.

The storm was located about 50 km northwest the town of Santa Rosalia Sunday afternoon, with a maximum sustained winds of 65 kph. It was moving northward at 11 kph and was expected to be weakening into tropical depression, according to the US National Hurricane Center in Miami.

(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2006)