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Hurricane strands Newport Beach residents in Cabo

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A group of Newport Beach area residents got a firsthand look at Hurricane Odile, one of the strongest storms to strike the Baja California peninsula, as it tore through their vacation rental in Cabo San Lucas. Friends and family members are now trying to help them get home.

The hurricane ripped through luxury resorts, flooded airports and left hundreds of tourists stranded Monday.

Murphy Megonigal, a 27-year-old Newport resident, was having his bachelor party last weekend with about 30 friends in Pedregal, a luxury community in Cabo San Lucas, when the hurricane hit.

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The Category 3 storm damaged the vacation rental Sunday, said Megonigal’s fianceé, Brittany Paul, also of Newport Beach. Megonigal’s cellphone photos of the home show flooded bedrooms, shattered windows and disheveled patios.

No members of his group were injured, Paul said.

Most are from the Newport Beach area, she said.

The hurricane made landfall at about 11 p.m. Sunday near Cabo San Lucas and left about 135 people with minor injuries, according to initial reports. No deaths have been reported.

Paul said Megonigal described in a phone call a city ravaged by the storm, which brought 125 mph winds and more than 11 inches of rain in one hour, according to reports from The Weather Channel. The annual average there is about 13 inches.

“All the stores have been ransacked; there’s no food, no water, no power,” Paul said. “A lot of Americans are walking in the street with their luggage trying to find somewhere to stay.”

Megonigal’s group was living on bags of chips and bottles of water, Paul said. The group trekked around the city looking for refuge and checked into a hotel but was allowed to stay only one night, Paul said.

Paul said she lost contact with her fiancé on Monday.

Cabo San Lucas International Airport is flooded and is expected to be closed for about a week.

Family and friends looked into trying to charter a private plane for Megonigal’s group, but with nowhere to land, they are now looking into sailing the vacationers to Newport Beach on a boat that a group member’s family has docked in Cabo San Lucas.

“We’re trying to figure out if it’s damaged beyond repair or if we can get them home,” Paul said. “We just want our boys home safe.”

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