It became a Category 3 storm as it neared Mexico
The Associated Press reports a Jamaican woman and her husband’s house in a storm-water drain: “Your house is almost flooded!”
A woman named Desrine Campbell, who lives in Old Harbour Bay, wailed “My house is almost flooded!” while in a shelter in Jamaica.
The storm tore roofs off homes, sending trees into roads, and left the island without electricity, the Associated Press reports. A thousand residents remain in shelters.
Jamaican authorities say a woman died after a house collapsed on her and a young man died after he was swept into a storm water drain while trying to retrieve a ball, per the AP.
Over the course of the past week, Beryl has wreaked havoc in the Caribbean, damaging or destroying 98% of homes on a pair of islands.
Even though there were temporary storm shelters in place at schools and hotels, Velzquez did not rule out the need to evacuate a few villages, like Mahahual, which is south of Tulum and sits on a narrow spit of land.
Heavy rains will be brought to northeastern Mexico and south Texas by the end of the weekend as Beryl emerges over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico.
Myriam Setra, a 34-year-old tourist from Dallas, Texas was having a sandwich on the beach earlier Thursday, saying “figured we’d get the last of the sun in today, too. It is going to be staying indoors until hopefully it passes.
Tourism and Emergency Management in Tulum, Mexico, During a World-wide Category 3 Tropical Cyclone Outburst Thursday
Tourists were also taking precautions. Lara Marsters, 54, a therapist visiting Tulum from Boise, Idaho, said “this morning we woke up and just filled all of our empty water bottles with water from the tap and put it in the freezer … so we will have water to flush the toilet.”
“We’ve cut the gas and electricity. We also have an emergency floor where two maintenance employees will be locking down,” he said from the hotel. “We have them staying in the room farthest from the beach and windows.”
The manager of Hotel Umi said that all of their guests had left. “With these conditions, we’ll be completely locked down,” he said, adding there were no plans to have guests return before July 10th.
In Playa del Carmen, most businesses were closed Thursday and some were boarding up windows as tourists jogged by and some locals walked their dogs under sunny skies. Authorities shut things down and evacuated hotels in Tulum.
Mexico prepared shelters, evacuated outlying coastal communities, and even moved sea turtle eggs off the beaches that are threatened by storm surge.
Four-wheelers drove along the white sand beach telling people to leave as the wind picked up. Tourists took photos of the swell, but military personnel urged them to leave as they headed to an expected landfall.
The storm’s center was about 135 miles (220 kilometers) east-southeast of Tulum, Mexico, and was moving west-northwest at 16 mph (about 26 kph), the hurricane center said.
The storm passed just south of Grand Cayman Island early Thursday, sparing residents serious damage but knocking out power to thousands of customers. It lost strength as it churned toward Mexico, but came back into Category 3 later that day.
The Stability of Clarendon and the Grenadine Islands: A Hurricane that No Hesitating or Can Make a Great Impact
“No hesitating. Material things can be recovered. President Lopez Obrador wrote that life is the most important thing.
The president of Mexico said that a direct hit might be made on Tulum, a small city with many tourists and residents.
The National Hurricane Center said that after it weakened, the strongest Category 5 storm in the Atlantic now has winds of 115 mph (185 kph).
Nearby, Carlton Golding said ruefully, “I lost everything this time.” Golding’s house was damaged by a storm for the second time.
In the south-central parish of Clarendon, residents attempted to mend damaged roofs and clear downed trees. Many roads are partially blocked due to downed electricity and telecommunication poles
The premier of the Cayman Islands, Juliana O’Connor, thanked residents and visitors Thursday for contributing to the “collective calm” ahead of Beryl by following storm protocols.
According to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, at least three of the Grenadine Islands have had more than 90% of their homes destroyed or badly damaged.
The deaths of three people in Carriacou and another in St.Vincent and the Grenadines were reported by officials. Three other deaths were reported in northern Venezuela, where four people were missing, officials said.
Hurricane Beryl makes landfall in Mexico, with its sights set on Texas next: Union Island, Jamaica, and the Grenadines
The US National Hurricane Center said on Thursday that a Tropical Storm had formed off Mexico’s coast. Aletta was forecast to head away from Manzanillo over the weekend, having maximum winds of 40 mph.
Four million dollars of emergency relief funds will be given to Grenada, Jamaica, and the Grenadines. Humanitarian aid groups are helping people in the Caribbean.
The Prime Minister said in a helicopter video that Union is a field of destruction. “It’s only the odd building that is not severely damaged or destroyed.”
In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Union Island — some 3 miles long and 1 mile wide, and home to about 3,000 residents — saw about 98% of its buildings damaged or destroyed, including its hospital and airport control tower.
“There is literally no vegetation left anywhere on the island of Carriacou; the mangroves are totally destroyed, the boats and the marinas significantly damaged,” he said, according to USA Today. “There is almost complete destruction of the electrical grid system in Carriacou. The entire communication system has been destroyed.
Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell described the destruction of buildings and agriculture on Carriacou and Petite Martinique as “almost Armageddon-like” in a news conference on Tuesday.
Source: Hurricane Beryl makes landfall in Mexico, with its sights set on Texas next
Beryl Makes Landfall in Mexico, with its sights set on Texas next, and it’s going to take a long while before it sets off
It battered the coast of Barbados, destroying or damaging some 200 fishing vessels, before continuing on to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada as a Category 4 storm on its way to Jamaica and Mexico.
“As Texans and visitors around the south coastal areas begin to celebrate our nation’s Independence Day, I urge them to make an emergency plan, review hurricane evacuation routes, and continue to monitor weather conditions to ensure the safety of themselves and their loved ones,” Abbott said Thursday.
Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to increase the readiness level of the state’s emergency operations center starting Friday morning. People with recreational vehicles in several county parks were asked to leave in a voluntaryevacuation notice.
Texas Public Radio reports that state and local officials are beginning to take precautionary measures, even as the center of the storm remains hundreds of miles away.
“It is going to take days, even weeks, to get parts of this country back on their feet after the disaster,” he said. “The big cities will probably get power — Montego Bay and Kingston — first. But in the rural communities, it’s going to take a while.”
Journalist Nick Davis told NPR’s All Things Considered from Kingston on Thursday that authorities’ immediate concern is getting power to essential services, like water and telecommunications.
Source: Hurricane Beryl makes landfall in Mexico, with its sights set on Texas next
Mixing of Hurricane Winds, Waves and Showers in Playa del Carmen, Mexico’s Second-largest City
Playa del Carmen is a popular vacation destination with its beaches and ruins. According to reports, at least 100 flights were canceled at the international airport in Mexico’s second-largest city of Cancun on Thursday as thousands of tourists were evacuated from Isla Mujeres back to the mainland.
The NHC is forecasting dangerous hurricane-force winds, a storm surge of four to six feet and damaging waves as the storm moves inland across the northern Yucatan Peninsula during the day. Up to 10 inches of rain is predicted for some areas, with the region receiving four to six inches.
