TULUM/CANCUN: Hurricane Beryl strengthened to a Category 3 storm on Thursday evening as it zeroed in on Mexico’s top tourist resorts after leaving behind a deadly trail of destruction across several Caribbean islands over the past few days.
Beryl, packing maximum winds of 115 mph (185 kph), was on a path to strike the Yucatan peninsula’s eastern coast early Friday, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), which warned of a dangerous storm surge and damaging waves overnight.
Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador urged people in the storm’s path to take shelter after the country’s meteorological service forecast heavy to torrential rains that could trigger landslides and flooding.
“No hesitating. Material things can be recovered. The most important thing is life,” the president wrote on social media.
The storm churned past the Cayman Islands earlier on Thursday after belting Jamaica with winds that tore apart buildings and uprooted trees. Authorities say at least 11 people have so far died from the storm across Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and in northern Venezuela.
The toll could rise as communications are restored on islands devastated by flooding and powerful winds.
At the international airport at Mexico’s top tourist destination Cancun, at least 100 flights were canceled on Thursday as tourists scrambled to catch the last ones out.
Stragglers perused the beach in Cancun on Thursday evening as winds began picking up.
In nearby Playa del Carmen, police blocked off beach entrances with yellow caution tape to dissuade visitors ahead of Beryl’s arrival.
The unusually fierce, early hurricane was located about 135 miles (217 km) east of the Mexican beach resort of Tulum, according to the NHC.
Earlier on Thursday, officials in the Cayman Islands issued the all clear after the storm spared them the worst.
Hurricane Beryl strikes Jamaica as Caymans, Mexico brace for storm’s impact
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