Johana Aliberto Maquiave, 3stolen.

David Serato, 42, left. “Life is more important than personal belongings,” he said. “If I stayed, I would die.”

Many had feared a repeat of the 1998 nightmare of Hurricane Mitch, which stalled over Central America for days, causing floods and mudslides that killed nearly 11,000 people and left more than 8,000 missing.

On Mexico’s western coast, Henriette moved across the Gulf of California toward its second landfall.

Schools and ports were closed and people evacuated from low-lying areas, but the storm was expected to weaken quickly over the desert before dumping a few inches of rain Thursday on New Mexico.

Among the coastal communities sure to get drenched was San Carlos, a beach town packed with American retirees that neighbors Guaymas.

At 5 p.m. EDT, Henriette was centered about 70 miles south of Guaymas, moving northward at 12 mph, and the first tropical-storm force winds were lashing the city, the U.S. Hurricane Center said.

Henriette set off mudslides earlier that killed six people in Acapulco as it moved northward up Mexico’s Pacific coast, and a woman drowned in high surf as the storm approached the Baja California peninula.

The storm became a hurricane just before its direct hit on the upscale desert resorts of Los Cabos on Baja’s southern tip Tuesday. The luxury hotels suffered little damage, but plywood shacks in the surrounding slums were destroyed.

“Everything is soaked,” said Homero Cruz Marcelino, a 28-year-old gardener who rode out the storm with his pregnant wife and son in a shack that was reduced to little more than a wooden frame. He estimated the damage at $500, a small fortune given his income.

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Associated Press writers Freddy Cuevas in Tegicugalpa, Honduras; Filadelfo Aleman in Managua, Nicaragua; Ioan Grillo in San Pedro Sula, Honduras; Richard Jacobsen in Mexico City; and Paul Kiernan in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

AP-ES-09-05-07 1751EDT