By Jose Cortes and Paola Chiomanti
TULUM/CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) – Hurricane Beryl battered major tourist resorts in Mexico on Thursday evening after passing through the Cayman Islands and hitting Jamaica with winds that destroyed buildings and uprooted trees.
Hurricane Beryl, now a Category 2 storm, has left a trail of deadly destruction across several smaller Caribbean islands over the past few days.
The storm had crossed the Cayman Islands and was on track to hit the Mexican beach resort of Tulum on the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, late Thursday or early Friday.
At least 100 flights were canceled at Cancun’s international airport on Thursday, as tourists raced to catch the remaining planes.
Homeless people wandered the beach in Cancun on Thursday evening as winds began to pick up. In nearby Playa del Carmen, police blocked off beach entrances with yellow caution tape to prevent visitors from approaching ahead of Beryl’s arrival.
The unusually violent early-stage hurricane was located about 180 miles (290 kilometers) east of Tulum, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Earlier Thursday, Cayman Islands officials issued a safety notice after the storm managed to spare them the worst.
“We had complete faith that God would hear our prayers, and I am very pleased to say that He has delivered us,” state Premier Juliana O’Connor Connolly said on Thursday.
Caribbean islands to the east were less fortunate. Authorities say at least 11 people have died in Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and northern Venezuela.
The death toll is likely to rise, especially as communications are restored on islands devastated by widespread flooding and strong winds.
“We’re just happy to be alive, and we’re just happy the damage wasn’t more extensive,” said Joseph Patterson, a beekeeper in the southwestern Jamaican town of Bogue, describing downed power lines, clogged roads and “extensive damage” to farms.
Beryl’s center passed around the southern coast of Jamaica, hitting communities as a powerful Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Rating Scale before weakening slightly later Thursday.
Two people have died in Jamaica due to the storm, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in an interview with CBC on Thursday.
However, Holness said most Jamaicans are “giving thanks”, having “survived the worst”.
Beryl’s maximum sustained winds have dropped to 110 mph (177 kph) and it is expected to dump 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) of rain on Mexico’s Yucatan late Thursday and into Friday, with up to 10 inches (3.5 to 4 inches) in some places, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The hurricane center expects the storm to weaken rapidly as it crosses the Yucatan Peninsula early Friday, but it is expected to strengthen further as Beryl moves over the Gulf of Mexico.
The storm is expected to move toward northeastern Mexico and southern Texas late into the weekend, the National Hurricane Center said.
Tourists beware
Cancun, Mexico’s top tourist destination, is a short distance from Tulum, and both are located where Beryl is expected to pass.
Isla Mujeres tourism director Jose Magana said about 3,000 tourists were evacuated from the island to the mainland near Cancun.
Workers can be seen filling sandbags and blocking the doors and windows of shops and hotels.
Fisherman Jose Martin was one of several fishermen whose boat was docked in Cancun waiting for Beryl to arrive.
“It affects us a lot because, first, we can’t work, and second, we need to find shelter, so it’s not good,” Martin said.
Schools in Quintana Roo state were closed on Thursday and Friday. Mexico’s Defense Ministry opened about 120 storm shelters in the region in anticipation of expected flooding.
Government workers in Cancun on Wednesday managed to rescue more than 10,000 turtle eggs that were in danger of washing away.
Tulum residents lined up at gas stations to fill their tanks and extra containers, while hotels and tourist complexes removed unstable furniture and equipment.
Mexico’s major oil platforms, most of which are concentrated around the shallow waters of the southern Gulf of Mexico, are not expected to be shut down or otherwise affected.
Depending on the hurricane’s expected path, offshore oil projects to the north, in US territorial waters, may be affected.
Chevron Shell Oil & Gas (NYSE:) said Thursday it was evacuating non-essential employees from its Gulf of Mexico facilities, including workers on the Anchor platform, due to the approaching storm.
Beryl is the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season, and at its peak earlier this week was the first Category 5 storm ever.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecast a large number of major hurricanes in what it predicts will be an “exceptional” storm season this year. The season runs from early June to late November.
The destructive power of Hurricane Beryl, coming so early in the hurricane season, underscores the consequences of a warming Atlantic Ocean. Scientists say human-caused climate change is fueling extreme weather.