Mexico ? Hurricane Paul weakened to a tropical storm Tuesday as it headed toward the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, whipping up high surf that left one person dead and another missing in the resort region.

Paul’s maximum sustained winds fell to near 45 mph and the storm was expected to weaken further before making landfall early today south of Los Cabos, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Forecasters warned, however, that the storm still could dump up to 10 inches of rain in the mountains on Mexico’s mainland, causing severe flooding.

Paul’s maximum sustained winds had reached 110 mph on Monday, making it a Category 2 hurricane. It was the third hurricane to threaten the Pacific coast’s resort areas this season.

Late Tuesday, Paul was 130 miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas on southernmost Baja California, and about 300 miles southwest of Mazatlan on the mainland. It was moving northeast at 14 mph. A tropical storm warning was in effect for the tip of Baja.