Cancun
A few hours before the expected arrival of Hurricane Beryl, about 100 flights are canceled in the popular Mexican holiday region on the Yucatán Peninsula. The international airport of Tulum is closed, the governor of the state of Quintana Roo, Mara Lezama, announced. According to the authorities, there are almost 350,000 vacationers in the region.
The Atlantic cyclone is expected to hit the peninsula’s eastern coast at hurricane force 1 on Friday night, as announced by the head of Mexico’s Civil Protection Agency, Laura Velázquez. Experts expect strong winds and rain, but also dangerous storm surges.
Lezama announced evacuations in several places. For safety reasons, alcohol consumption is prohibited from today. Schools and archaeological sites remain closed. Emergency shelters are available. The larger hotels are setting up their own safety zones for their visitors. According to Lezama, many tourists decide to stay in the region despite “Beryl”.
The hurricane moves on and then returns
The storm is forecast to move westward across the peninsula and out to sea in the Gulf of Mexico. It is expected to make landfall again Monday night in the eastern state of Tamaulipas as a possible Category 1 hurricane.
Beryl, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season since June, was the strongest storm ever recorded this early in the season. It has since reached a high of Category 5, but has since been downgraded to a strength 2. It devastated several smaller islands in the southeastern Caribbean and recently passed Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. In total, at least eight people were killed. Due to climate change, warmer ocean waters are making strong hurricanes more likely.
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