We saw the roof jump and then jump again and take off

Gabriel Reyes Martinez

"We saw the roof jump and then jump again and take off. It fell 15 metres from the house," Gabriel Reyes Martinez, who lives in a house of corrugated metal and cardboard, told the Associated Press news agency.

He took his family to one of the several schools in the region which have been closed to serve as emergency shelters.

A US surfer drowned while out on the high seas whipped up by the hurricane just off the coast of Cabo San Lucas. Docks have been destroyed by the crashing waves, which have risen to four metres.

Although the hurricane is expected to stay out at sea, warnings have been extended to cover a 200 mile strip of the Baja peninsula.

Flooded homes

Hurricane Juliette, whose winds have reached 145mph (233km/h), has been blamed for indirectly causing other deaths earlier this week.

Two men died on Sunday in the south-western state of Chiapas when water burst river banks and flooded homes.

The hurricane has done no favours for a faltering tourist trade

In Acapulco, in Guerrero state, a fisherman died when his boat capsized in high seas.

Others have been forced out of their homes.

In the western state of Michoacan, some 1,000 people abandoned their homes as they were flooded by waters rising to 2 metres.

The winds have also dealt a blow to an increasingly shaky tourist trade.

Local airports have been closed, but correspondents say hotels were already looking empty due to drop in tourism from the neighbouring United States after the terrorist attacks on 11 September.