Hurricane Beryl has strengthened to a Category 3 storm as it zeroed in on Mexico’s top tourist resorts, after leaving behind a trail of destruction across several Caribbean islands over the past few days.
Beryl, packing maximum winds of 185 kph was on a path to strike the Yucatan peninsula’s eastern coast on Friday, according to the US National Hurricane centre (NHC), which warned of a dangerous storm surge and damaging waves overnight.
The storm churned past the Cayman Islands earlier on Thursday after belting Jamaica with winds that tore apart buildings and uprooted trees.
Authorities say at least 11 people have so far died from the storm across Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and in northern Venezuela. The toll could rise as communications are restored on islands devastated by flooding and powerful winds.
At the international airport at Mexico’s top tourist destination Cancun, at least 100 flights were cancelled on Thursday as tourists scrambled to catch the last ones out.
In nearby Playa del Carmen, police blocked off beach entrances with yellow caution tape to dissuade visitors ahead of Beryl’s arrival.
The unusually fierce, early hurricane was located about 256 km east of the Mexican beach resort of Tulum.
Earlier on Thursday, officials in the Cayman Islands issued the all clear after the storm spared them the worst.
Beryl had weakened on Thursday after skirting Jamaica’s southern coast as a powerful Category 4 storm.
There were two deaths in Jamaica related to the storm, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in an interview on CBC.
Some 70 per cent of the National Water Commission’s 400,000 customers were without water, a company representative said.
Still, most Jamaicans were “giving thanks,” Holness said, after having “escaped the worst”.
Beryl was forecast to dump 10-15 centimetres of rain on Mexico’s Yucatan through Friday, the NHC said.
The hurricane centre expects the storm to weaken rapidly as it crosses the Yucatan peninsula early Friday, but is seen getting stronger when Beryl moves over the Gulf of Mexico.
The storm is expected to move toward northeastern Mexico and southern Texas late in the weekend, the NHC said.
Mexico’s defence ministry opened around 120 storm shelters in the area, ahead of expected flooding.
Government workers in Cancun on Wednesday saved over 10,000 turtle eggs that were at risk of being swept away.
Residents in Tulum lined up at gas stations to fill their tanks and additional containers, while hotels and tourist complexes removed loose furniture and equipment.
Offshore oil projects to the north, in US territorial waters, could be hit, according to the hurricane’s expected trajectory.
Chevron Corp said on Thursday that non-essential personnel from its Gulf of Mexico facilities, including workers at its Anchor platform, are being removed due to the approaching storm.
Beryl’s destructive power, coming so early in the hurricane season, underscores the consequences of a warmer Atlantic Ocean. Scientists say human-caused climate change is fuelling extreme weather.
