Next up for the storm, it makes its way to Texas
A Hurricane-Induced Flood in Old Harbour Bay, Jamaica, Onstopped by the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday morning and Its Impact on the Texas Coast
Desrine Campbell, a resident of the low-lying community of Old Harbour Bay, cried out “My house is almost flooded!” while staying in a shelter in Jamaica.
Sixty percent of the island remained without electricity, along with a lack of water and limited telecommunications. The damage was assessed but was hampered by the lack of communication among the government officials.
A young man died when he tried to retrieve a ball in a storm water drain and a lady died when a house collapsed on her.
It appeared that Beryl’s worst damage was behind her. Its eye wall brushed by Jamaica’s southern coast on Wednesday afternoon while on Thursday morning, telephone poles and trees were blocking the roadways in Kingston.
Efforts to evacuate a few highly exposed villages, like Punta Allen, which sits on a narrow spit of land south of Tulum, and Mahahual, further south, had been only partially successful.
After battering the Mexican peninsula, the storm moved back into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico where it was expected to regain strength Saturday and make a hit on the Texas coast.
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 hunker down and just stay indoors until it passes.
The Tulum Hurricane Center was moving eastwards toward Grand Cayman Island, Mexico, by the end of Oct. 8, 2005, according to a Tulum, Idaho, resident
People also took precautions. Lara Marsters, 54, a therapist visiting Tulum from Boise, Idaho, said she had filled up empty water bottles from the tap.
We have stopped the gas and electricity. We also have an emergency floor where two maintenance employees will be locking down,” he said from the hotel. They are staying in a room far away from the beach and windows.
Francisco Bencomo, General manager of Hotel Umi in Tulum said all of their guests had left. We’ll be locked down and guests won’t be allowed before July 10th.
Most businesses in Playa del Carmen were closed, and some boarded up windows, as tourists and locals walked their dogs under the sun. The hotels were evacuated and the place of business shut down.
People were told to stay at storm shelters or at their homes after the Mexican government issued a red alert. The company hurried to get sea turtle eggs out of its beaches.
As the wind began gusting over Tulum’s white sand beaches on Thursday afternoon, four-wheelers with megaphones rolled along the sand telling people to leave. Tourists took photos of the swell but military men told them to leave as it headed for an expected landfall early Friday.
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 was a Category 3 storm when it strengthened later that day but weakened when it hit Mexico.
Beryl’s Hurricane, Golding’s House, and the Emergency Management Agency in the Grenadines, Puerto de la Calle Alemanda
“It is recommendable that people get to higher ground, shelters or the homes of friends or family elsewhere,” López Obrador wrote. “Don’t hesitate, material possessions can be replaced.”
In a statement, the President of Mexico stated that Beryl could make a direct hit on the Mexican city of Tulum which still holds thousands of tourists and residents.
Beryl burst onto the radar as the most powerful hurricane ever recorded this early in the Atlantic hurricane season, a distinction earned with the help of climate change.
Carlton Golding said that he lost everything this time. Golding’s house was totally destroyed by the hurricane, the second time that he has suffered damage from storms.
Residents in Clarendon attempted to repair damaged roofs and clear downed trees. The area remained partially blocked from the roads because of downed power and telephone poles.
The premier of the Cayman Islands thanked residents and visitors for following the storm protocols, and for contributing to the collective calm.
The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday that at least three of the Grenadine Islands had more than 50% of their homes destroyed or badly damaged.
Three people were reported killed in Grenada and Carriacou and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said. There were four people who were missing in northern Venezuela.
Tropical Storm Aletta: a “field of destruction” for Union Island, Mexico, and its destination, Mexico (and the Caribbean), with its sights set on Texas next
Tropical Storm Aletta formed in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico’s coast, according to the National Hurricane Center. Aletta, which was located about 190 miles (310 kilometers) from Manzanillo and had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph), was forecast to head away from land and dissipate by the weekend.
Emergency relief funds of $4 million are being made available by the United Nations. A growing number of humanitarian aid groups are also mobilizing to help affected residents across the Caribbean.
“Union is a field of devastation,” Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said in an Instagram video from a helicopter surveying the damage. “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 is destroyed.
The destruction on Carriacou and Petite Martinique was described as Armageddon-like by Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell.
Source: Hurricane Beryl makes landfall in Mexico, with its sights set on Texas next
The Barbados-Mexico Storm: “We’re going to have a really rough time preparing ourselves,” Abbott told APEC
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 celebrate our nation’s independence day, I urge them to make an emergency plan, review Hurricane evacuation routes and keep an eye on the weather to ensure their safety,” 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. In certain county parks, the people with recreational vehicles were issued a voluntary evacuation notice.
State and local officials are starting to take precautions despite the fact that the center of the storm is hundreds of miles away.
“It’s going to take days, even weeks, possibly, to be able to get parts of this country back on its feet,” 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.”
Nick Davis is a journalist from Kingston who told All Things Considered on Thursday how authorities’ immediate concern is getting power to essential services.
Effects of a Tropical Hurricane on Mexico’s Northeastern Cancun, Mexico, and the Caribbean coastline: Puerto More than 100 miles after the Big Bang
A popular vacation destination is Mexico’s Cancun, home to the beaches and Mayan ruins. Some 3,000 tourists were evacuated from Isla Mujeres back to the mainland on Thursday, according to Reuters, which also reports that at least 100 flights out of Cancun’s international airport were canceled that day.
“There is an increasing risk of damaging hurricane-force winds and life-threatening storm surge in portions of northeastern Mexico and the lower and middle Texas coast late Sunday and Monday,” the center warned.
Texas officials have warned the state’s entire coastline to prepare for possible flooding, rain and wind as they wait for a more defined path of the storm. On Friday, the center issued a watch for storm surge and hurricanes from the mouth of the Rio Grande to San Luis Pass, less than 100 miles south of Houston.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is traveling in Taiwan, issued a pre-emptive disaster declaration for 40 counties.
Many tourists and residents were left out of low lying areas around the Yucatan Peninsula before the storm hit and tens of thousands continued to fight off the storm surge and strong winds. The area around Tulum is just a few yards above sea level.
The city was plunged into darkness when the storm knocked out power as it came ashore. Cars werelched off their alarms across the town. There was rain and wind on Friday morning. The streets of the city were being roved by army brigades.
Although no dead or wounded have been reported, nearly half of Tulum continued to be without electricity, said Laura Velázquez, national coordinator of Mexican Civil Protection.
Jamaica and other islands ravaged by Hurricane Matthew were still reeling, even as many in the peninsula took a deep breath. After inspecting the damage in St Elizabeth, the southern parish of Jamaica, Andrew Holness promised swift relief for residents.