By Zahra Burton and Jose Cortes
KINGSTON/TULUM, Mexico (Reuters) -Hurricane Beryl targeted some of Mexico’s top tourist spots on Thursday after passing through the Cayman Islands and lashing Jamaica with winds that tore down buildings and uprooted trees.
Beryl, now in Category 2 strength, has left behind a deadly trail of destruction in several small Caribbean islands over the past few days.
It has crossed the Cayman Islands and is on track to attack the Mexican beach resort of Tulum, on the east coast of the Yucatan peninsula, on Thursday night or early Friday.
Cancun’s international airport is packed with tourists hoping to catch their last flight. About 100 flights were canceled, the state’s governor said on social media.
The unusually violent initial storm was located about 200 miles (322 km) west of Grand Cayman, the largest of the three islands that make up the British territory, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
Caymanian officials issued the all-clear on Thursday after the storm spared them the worst of it.
“We are confident that God will hear our prayers, and I am very happy to say that he has helped us again,” said Prime Minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly on Thursday.
The Caribbean islands to the east are less fortunate. Authorities say at least 11 people have died, a number that could rise, especially as communications are restored on islands damaged by heavy flooding and strong winds.
“We are happy to be alive, happy that the damage is not more,” said Joseph Patterson, a beekeeper in the town of Bogue, southwestern Jamaica. He described downed power lines, roads blocked by debris and “huge damage” to farms.
The center of Beryl hit the southern coast of Jamaica, hitting communities as a powerful Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale before weakening slightly on Thursday.
There have been two deaths in Jamaica linked to the storm, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in an interview on CBC on Thursday.
Still, most Jamaicans are “grateful,” Holness said, having “escaped the worst of it”.
The storm’s winds are expected to weaken over the next day or two, but will remain at hurricane strength until it approaches Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
Beryl’s maximum winds have decreased to 110 mph (177 kph), and it is expected to dump 4-6 inches (10-15 centimeters) of rain in Mexico’s Yucatan late Thursday and Friday, with 10 inches in some places. , NHC said.
TOURIST BEWARE
Mexico’s top tourist spot, Cancun, is not far from Tulum, both of which are where Beryl will cross.
About 3,000 tourists have been evacuated from Isla Mujeres back to the mainland near Cancun, the island’s tourism director Jose Magana said.
Workers can be seen filling sandbags and entering shops and hotel doors and windows.
Schools in the state of Quintana Roo are closed Thursday and Friday. Mexico’s defense ministry opened about 120 storm shelters in the region, ahead of the flooding.
Government workers in Cancun on Wednesday rescued more than 10,000 sea turtle eggs that were at risk of being washed away.
Residents in Tulum lined up at gas stations to fill up tanks and extra containers, while hotels and tourist complexes removed loose furniture and equipment.
Mexico’s main oil platforms, which are mostly clustered around the shallow waters of the southern Gulf of Mexico, are not expected to be shut down or affected.
Offshore oil projects to the north, in US territorial waters, could be hit, depending on the storm’s expected trajectory.
Chevron Corp (NYSE: ) said Thursday that non-essential personnel from its Gulf of Mexico facility, including workers on the Anchor platform, were being removed due to the impending storm.
Beryl is the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season and at its peak earlier this week was the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record.
Earlier in the week, Beryl slammed into St Vincent and the Grenadines and “flattened” Union Island, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves told local radio. More than 90% of the buildings suffered major damage. Reconstruction in the area will require a “Herculean effort,” Gonsalves added.
At least three deaths have been confirmed in the island chain and crop damage is widespread, a senior official told Reuters.
In Grenada, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has described the situation as “like Armageddon” after the hurricane, while also confirming three deaths.
In Venezuela, at least three people have been killed and four others are listed as missing.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecast many major hurricanes in what it has predicted will be an “extraordinary” hurricane season this year. The season starts from the beginning of June until the end of November
Beryl’s destructive power, coming early in the hurricane season, underscores the consequences of a warmer Atlantic Ocean. Scientists say human-caused climate change is causing more extreme weather.
