Cancun, Oct 7 (AP) Hurricane Delta made landfall just south of the Mexican resort of Cancun on Wednesday, downing trees and knocking out power along the northeastern coast of Yucatan Peninsula, but without immediate reports of deaths or injuries. The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said satellite imagery, radar data from Cuba and surface observations in Mexico indicate that the center of the Category 2 storm came ashore around 5:30 am local time, sustaining top winds of 110 mph (175 kmh).
The center said Delta was about to emerge into the Gulf of Mexico after having crossed over the Yucatan peninsula, where it knocked out power to about 266,000 customers, one third of the total in the area. There were no reports of any deaths or injuries, said Carlos Joaqun Gonzlez, the governor of the state of Quintana Roo.
Fortunately, the most dangerous part of the hurricane has passed, Joaqun Gonzlez said, noting the big problem was downed trees that had knocked out power lines and blocked roadways. Civil defense official Lus Alberto Ortega Vzquez said about 39,000 people had been evacuated in the states of Quintana Roo and Yucatan, and that about 2,700 people had taken refuge in storm shelters in the two states. Joaqun Gonzlez said some tourists who had to take refuge at storm shelters had not yet been allowed to return to their hotels, where cleanup was underway, but said he hoped they would be able to by the end of the day.
There were reports of some flooding in Cozumel and Playa del Carmen. Overnight emergency calls came in from people whose windows or doors were broken and they were taken to shelters, he said. Early Wednesday, guests of the Fiesta Americana Condesa hotel awoke in the sweltering classrooms of the Technological Institute of Cancun campus where they had been moved Tuesday.
All of the windows had been covered with plywood so they couldn’t see what was happening, but they said the howling winds started around 2 am and there had been heavy rain. The power and with it the air conditioning had been knocked out early Wednesday so it was steamy as tourists used their cell phone light to get up and make their way for a first cup of coffee. The hard part has been the waiting, said Ana Karen Rodrguez of Monterrey. She and a friend arrived in Cancun Tuesday morning and by afternoon were shuttled to the shelter. She said the hotel had planned well. It’s been good. I feel comfortable actually. Throughout the day Tuesday, the situation had appeared grave for this stretch of the Mexican coast.
Delta had increased in strength by 80 mph in just 24 hours, and its top winds peaked at 145 mph (230 kph) before it weakened as it neared the shore. Forecasters warned it was still an extremely dangerous storm nevertheless, with a life-threatening storm surge that could raise water levels 9 to 13 feet (2.7 to 4 meters), along with large and dangerous waves and flash flooding inland.
Thousands of Quintana Roo residents and tourists were hunkering down in government shelters. Everyone had been ordered off the streets by 7 pm. The evacuations of low lying areas, islands and the coastline expanded as Delta exploded over the warm Caribbean waters offshore. Much of Cancun’s hotel zone was cleared out as guests were bused to inland shelters. In Cancun alone, the government opened 160 shelters.
State tourism officials said more than 40,000 tourists were in Quintana Roo, a fraction of what would normally be there. Delta’s damage comes on top of months of pandemic-induced lockdown that has devastated the state’s tourism industry. At the Cancun Convention Center, 400 tourists from hotels and rental properties bunked for the night.(AP) .
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
Read all the Latest News and Breaking News here
Comments
0 comment