Houses in Clifton, United Island, St. Vincent and the Grenadines were destroyed by Hurricane Beryl on Thursday.
Lucan Olivier/AP
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Lucan Olivier/AP
TULUM, Mexico — Hurricane Beryl wreaked havoc and killed at least nine people in the eastern Caribbean late Thursday before barreling through open waters toward Mexico’s resort-drenched Yucatan Peninsula, the intensity once again strengthened to a Category 3 storm.
The National Hurricane Center said Beryl, the earliest Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, was now packing winds of 115 mph (185 kph) after weakening early Thursday.
President Andres Manuel López Obrador issued a statement saying Beril could launch a direct attack on Tulum, which although smaller than Cancun still has thousands of tourists and residents.
“People are advised to go to higher ground, to shelters, or to the homes of friends or family members elsewhere,” López Obrador wrote. “Don’t hesitate, material possessions are fungible.”
“As the storm is moving away from the Cayman Islands, the greatest immediate threat right now is to landfall in the Yucatan Peninsula,” said Jack Bevin, senior hurricane specialist at the U.S. Hurricane Center.
The storm center was located about 135 miles (220 kilometers) east-southeast of Tulum, Mexico, and was moving west-northwest at 16 miles (about 26 kilometers) per hour, the hurricane center said.
Beryl is expected to bring heavy rain and winds to Mexico’s Caribbean coast before moving across the Yucatan Peninsula and reintensifying in the Gulf of Mexico for a second strike into northeastern Mexico.
As strong winds blew over Tulum’s white sandy beaches on Thursday afternoon, four-wheelers with loudspeakers rolled along the sand, telling people to leave. Tourists took photos of the growing waves, but military personnel urged them to leave as Beryl was expected to make landfall near Tulum early Friday.
Over the past few days, beryl has damaged or destroyed 95% of homes on the two islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, disrupted fishing boats in Barbados and tore off roofs in Jamaica before roaring into the sea early Thursday Passing through the Cayman Islands.
Mexico’s popular Caribbean coast prepared shelters, evacuated some small remote coastal communities and even moved sea turtle eggs away from beaches threatened by storm surges.
In Playa del Carmen, most businesses were closed Thursday, with some boarding up their windows as tourists jogged by and some locals walked their dogs under sunny skies. In Tulum, authorities shut down everything and evacuated beachfront hotels.
Francisco Bencomo, general manager of Hotel Umi in Tulum, said all guests had left. “In this case we will be in complete lockdown,” he said, adding that there were no plans for guests to return before July 10.
“We have cut off gas and electricity. We also have an emergency floor where two maintenance staff will be locked down,” he said at the hotel. “We put them in the rooms furthest from the beach and the windows.”
“I hope we have as little impact on hotels as possible, that the hurricane moves quickly through Tulum and that it’s nothing serious,” he said.
Tourists are also taking precautions. “This morning we woke up and filled the taps with water,” said Lara Marsters, 54, a therapist who came to Tulum from Boise, Idaho. All empty water bottles and put them in the refrigerator…so we have water to rinse them with.
“We’re expecting a power outage,” Masters said. “We’re going to hunker down and stay safe.”
Myriam Setra, a 34-year-old tourist from Dallas, Texas, who was eating a sandwich on the beach early Thursday, said: “I think we’re going to get the last of the sunshine today. Then it will hunker down and stay indoors until the wish passes.
But once Beryl reappears in the Gulf of Mexico a day later, forecasters say it is expected to gain hurricane strength again and could hit Matamoros on the Mexico-U.S. border. The area was already drenched by Tropical Storm Alberto in June.
Temporary shelters have been set up in schools and hotels, Velasquez said, but efforts to evacuate some highly exposed villages, such as Punta Allen and more in a narrow strip of land south of Tulum, have been only partially successful. The village of Mahahur in the south.
The worst of Beryl’s injuries seemed to be behind her. Its eyewall brushed off the southern coast of Jamaica on Wednesday afternoon, while power poles and trees blocked roads in Kingston on Thursday morning.
A young man died Wednesday after being swept into a storm drain while trying to retrieve a ball, authorities confirmed. A woman also died after her house collapsed on her.
Residents took advantage of the rain to start clearing the debris.
Sixty percent of the island still has no electricity, water and limited telecommunications. Government officials are assessing the damage but have been hampered by a lack of communication, mainly in southern parishes that have suffered the worst damage.
About 1,432 people in Jamaica remain in shelters, including Desrine Campbell, a resident of the low-lying community of Old Harbor, who cried: “My house is almost flooded!”
“I lost everything this time,” said nearby Carlton Golding sadly. Golding’s house was completely destroyed by the hurricane, which was his second storm damage.
In the south-central parish of Clarendon, residents tried to repair damaged roofs and clear downed trees. Many roads in the area remain partially blocked by downed power and telecommunications poles.
Cayman Islands Premier Juliana O’Connor on Thursday thanked residents and visitors for adhering to storm protocols and contributing to the “collective calm” before Beryl struck.
Michelle Forbes, director of the National Emergency Management Organization of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, said about 95% of the homes on Mayrow and Union Island were damaged by Hurricane Beryl.
Three deaths were reported in Grenada and Carriacou and one in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said. Three more deaths and four missing were reported in northern Venezuela, officials said.
One death occurred in Grenada after a tree fell on a house, Environment Minister Kerryne James told The Associated Press.
Separately, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Thursday that Tropical Storm Aleta has formed in the Pacific Ocean near the coast of Mexico. Aleta, about 190 miles (310 kilometers) from Manzani, had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was expected to move away from land and dissipate over the weekend.
