Mexico ?

Newly formed Hurricane Otis swept toward a sparsely populated stretch of Baja California on Friday, forcing dozens of people to evacuate low-lying neighborhoods in this western resort city.

Mayor Luis Armando Diaz led a contingent of police officers going door to door and asking residents to leave the outskirts of Cabo San Lucas, where many poor families live in flimsy shacks.

Only a few dozen people had left their homes, but authorities hoped to move out as many as 1,000 by late evening. Five shelters were opened.

Otis was the 15th named Pacific storm of the season, compared with 17 in the Atlantic-Caribbean region.

Extended forecasts expected a weakened Otis to bring rain to parts of the southwestern United States by early next week.