With winds of 175 kilometers per hour, Hurricane Beryl caused Fallen trees, poles and damage to building roofs, as well as power outages in at least three municipalities in the state of Quintana Roo (southeast), according to a report from the Civil Protection system.
“The best thing is that in this first report Apparently there are no loss of life “That is what matters most to us, that no one is affected,” said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in his usual morning press conference.
The airports of Cancun, Tulum and Cozumel, where Millions of tourists arrive every year to enjoy the beaches in this Caribbean region, were not affected, said the national head of Civil Protection, Laura Velázquez.
Read more: No power and no water: Hurricane Beryl causes damage following passing through the Cayman Islands
Mexican authorities deployed in the area 25 thousand 611 elements in totall, with 4,150 from the Ministry of National Defense, 1,128 from the Ministry of the Navy, 4,451 from the National Guard and 2,189 from the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE).
At least 348 scheduled flights Between Thursday 4th and Saturday 6th July there had been cancelled at Cancun airportthe largest terminal in the region.
Nearly 2,200 people remain housed in 58 temporary shelterss that were enabled in anticipation of the arrival of Beryl, which also produced potentially dangerous puddles, so Velázquez asked the population to stay safe. “SWe remain on red alert“, he claimed.
Rain and wind affected the highway that connects Cancun with Playa del Carmen, Tulum and other resorts in the area.
The CFE has reported that in Tulum approximately 40% of the area is without electricitya, while in Cozumel seven colonies have power outages.
Security forces and state-owned electricity company CFE were deployed in the disaster area to assist the population and repair damage, the official added.
The United States National Hurricane Center (NHC), based in Miami, announced that the hurricane, which was downgraded from Category 2 to 1, is located 160 kilometers east of Progreso (north of the state of Yucatan), and unleashes Maximum winds of 140 kilometers per hour.
Civil Protection reported on the social network X (Twitter) that Beryl will cause “intense, sometimes torrential rains, strong winds and high waves in the Yucatan Peninsula.”
In turn, the NHC warned that storms are forecast Hurricane-force winds, storm surge and heavy waves.
“Rapid and continued weakening is expected as Beryl moves inland and crosses the Yucatan Peninsula today (Friday), but further weakening is expected slow reintensification once Beryl enters the Gulf of Mexico“, said the NHC.
Read also: Beryl intensifies into a Category 3 hurricane and is expected to reach Tulum in the early hours of Friday
Warnings and evacuations
Hundreds of tourists were evacuated in the region and authorities They asked the population to take shelter in high areas.
The growing force of the wind and rain alerted residents of Tulum, who began filling shelters, said Amairani Och, head of one of the shelters set up in a school that already served 290 people.
“After the gust of wind passed, people began to arrive.“Och said on the evening of July 4.
The shelter also accepts pets. Lucero Gazcón, a 67-year-old retiree, was able to stay with her dog following leaving her apartment.
Beryl is the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, which runs from early June to late November, and has impressed experts with its intensity.
The American meteorological services classified it during its trajectory as Category 5, making it the earliest of this power in the records.
Scientists believe that Climate change, which causes higher water temperaturesfavors these storms and increases the likelihood that they will intensify rapidly.
You may be interested in reading: Hurricane Beryl is 526 kilometers from Guatemala heading towards the Gulf of Mexico
Emergency deployment
In Tulum, a municipality of 47 thousand inhabitants, the government ordered suspend activities from the followingnoon of Thursday, July 4.
The population protected their businesses with wooden boards and supermarkets closedThe airport suspended its operations.
Many tourists were evacuated from hotels along the coastline and others tried to leave the impact zone by bus.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warned in May that Hurricane season is shaping up to be extraordinarywith the possibility of four to seven hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.
Of the three cyclones that have occurred in the Atlantic this season, Beryl would be the third to hit Mexico, where Tropical Storm Chris made landfall on June 30, causing flooding in the center and east of the country.
Meanwhile, storm Alberto, which made landfall on June 20, caused six deaths in Nuevo Leon, a state on Mexico’s northern border, and destruction and flooding in Monterrey, the country’s second most populous city.
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