Hurricane Beryl slammed into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula Friday near the resort town of Tulum with fierce winds, US forecasters said.
The National Hurricane Center said the storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (160 kph) making it a Category 2 hurricane, weaker than earlier in the week as Beryl hit islands in the Caribbean.
Mexico’s national water commission Conagua reported similar wind speeds, with even stronger gusts.
“Please stay home,” the governor of Quintana Roo state, Mara Lezama, said in a video released overnight.
The storm was expected to bring a dangerous sea surge from the Caribbean and big waves, the NHC added.
Beryl has left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean and the coast of Venezuela, killing at least seven people.
It was the first hurricane since NHC records began to reach the Category 4 level in June and the earliest to hit the highest Category 5 in July.
In Mexico, schools in the area bracing for a hit were suspended Thursday and shelters set up for locals and tourists.
In Cancun, a two-hour drive from Tulum, people stocked up on food and other essentials for days and hotels boarded up their windows.
The storm is projected to weaken as it churns northwest across the Yucatan Peninsula but pick up strength again as it emerges over the Gulf of Mexico, then hit the eastern state of Tamaulipas on the Texas border.
Around 100 domestic and international flights scheduled between Thursday and Friday have been canceled at Cancun airport, the main hub in the Mexican Caribbean.
Hundreds of tourists were evacuated from hotels along Mexico’s coastline while some were still attempting to take buses out of the impact zone.
However, some were still enjoying a sunny day at the beach before taking shelter in their hotels.
“They cancelled our flight and we had to pay for two extra nights,” said Virginia Rebollar, a Mexican tourist who traveled with three family members to Tulum.
“We have some fear, but we are convinced that people are prepared and know what to do.”
The Mexican army, which deployed around 8,000 troops in Tulum, announced that it has food supplies and 34,000 liters of purified water to distribute to the population.
It is extremely rare for such a powerful storm to form this early in the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from early June to late November.
Warm ocean temperatures are key for hurricanes, and North Atlantic waters are currently between two and five degrees Fahrenheit (1-3 degrees Celsius) warmer than normal, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
AFP
