( CNN ) -- Hurricane Odile snapped palm trees like twigs , washed out roads and left tourists trapped in Mexican resorts Monday . Even as it weakened into a Category 1 hurricane , the storm threatened to bring torrential rains and flooding as it moved over the Baja California peninsula , forecasters said . Already , the hurricane has left stunned residents and tourists in its wake . Sarah McKinney , who was in Cabo San Lucas on maternity leave from her job in Arkansas when the then-Category 3 storm hit with 125 mph winds Sunday night , tweeted photos of the wreckage Monday : the collapsed roof of a restaurant , a shuttle van flipped over , a resort 's swimming pool pushed into the ocean . Every car she walked by after the storm had broken windows , she wrote . The normally pristine marina in the idyllic resort town was littered with debris . `` 2 days ago we walked along the marina happy with not a care in the world , '' she said . `` Today I 'm shocked and saddened . '' The powerful storm caused severe damage at the airport in Los Cabos , Mexico 's national director of civil protection said , according to CNN affiliate FOROtv . Monday night the storm was about 30 miles ( 50 km ) southwest of Loreto , Mexico , packing winds of 75 mph ( 120 kph ) as it headed northwest . It was expected to weaken into a tropical storm early Tuesday , the National Hurricane Center said . On Sunday , gales from Odile whipped torrents of rain ashore , chasing visitors in popular tourist destinations into close quarters . Streets in Cabo San Lucas were drenched . Palm trees were knocked over , and outdoor markets were trashed . Raul Frias , from Mexico City , was at Club Regina in Cabo when he tweeted that he felt a `` great vibration '' in a shelter and that something `` big was coming down . '' McKinney and her newborn daughter , Madison , had already evacuated out of harm 's way from their first hotel to a second one . But even there , the room roared like a wind tunnel as Odile passed over . At least 15,000 tourists were sharing McKinney 's experience in Cabo , Mexican civil defense official Luis Felipe Puente said . She piled up her belongings in the bathtub to protect them from the water seeping through the door to her room . She dammed it up with a mattress , but it still came in about an inch deep . `` I 've cleared the beds and linen closets and have my daughter and I held up in the bathroom , '' she told CNN . Then the winds subsided . Madison fell asleep . `` The pressure was horrific , but now it is eerily calm -- just how people describe when the eye passes over , '' she said . But then the winds smacked the hotel again , and McKinney headed back into the bathroom . `` The backhalf is definitely worse , '' she posted to Twitter . `` More debris and stronger winds and rain . Bedroom is getting soaked from water seeping in . '' Odile was earlier predicted to bring possibly life-threatening flash floods and mudslides , forecasters said Sunday . Ports and beaches have been closed , and school classes and celebrations for Mexico 's Independence Day were canceled in Baja California Sur state . Independence Day is Tuesday . CNNMexico.com , and CNN 's Nelson QuiÃ±ones , Nick Parker and Brian Walker contributed to this report .
NEW : The Category 1 hurricane still threatens to cause floods , some say . Hurricane Maria hits the southern tip of Baja California Sur late Sunday . An American mother on maternity leave wakes up with her newborn in a hotel . Forecasters warn of destructive winds and life - threatening conditions .