Hurricane Beryl brought damaging winds and storm surge to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, where it had earlier made landfall as a Category 2 storm, after spending the past week moving across the eastern Caribbean and flattening islands. The storm, which has weakened slightly as it moves inland, is expected to emerge into the Gulf of Mexico by the end of the day and strengthen again this weekend.
On Friday morning, photos were posted on social media, some of which sharing by state officials, showed Beryl causing minor damage as it crossed the Peninsula. Streets blocked by utility poles and trees, collapsed store signs and a gas station awning nearly toppled on its side were among the first reported impacts from the storm.
The storm left damage in its wake.
Meteorologists had predicted that Mexico would be hit twice by the hurricane. It was expected to cross the Yucatan Peninsula on Friday and then, after crossing the Gulf of Mexico, reach the coast of the northern state of Tamaulipas.
At a news conference, Laura Velázquez Alzúa, Mexico’s civil protection coordinator, said no injuries or deaths had been reported so far. More than 2,100 people have sought refuge in shelters and four residents have been rescued after their homes were flooded.
Authorities were already on the streets assessing the damage, she added, particularly in the municipality of Tulum, and although power outages were reported across the state, electricians were working to restore electricity.
“We have witnessed a truce of nature, which is always capricious in the Mayan zone,” Mara Lezama, governor of the state of Quintana Roo, said Friday morning, adding that there were not as many destroyed structures as in previous storms. “The wind was benevolent.”
Airports in Tulum, Cozumel and Cancun were spared from the storm, Velázquez Alzúa said.
Before the hurricane made landfall, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador urged residents to move to higher ground, evacuate to shelters or go to safer places. “Let’s not hesitate, material goods can be recovered,” he said. said on social media. “The most important thing is life.”
Mexico’s weather agency said Friday morning that the storm dumped between 15 and 25 centimeters of rain in Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatan. It reported wind gusts of up to 217 km/h and a storm surge of more than 3 meters along the coasts of Quintana Roo and Yucatan.
Earlier this week, at least nine people were killed by the storm. parts of GrenadaSO Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. The Jamaican prime minister’s office released a statement Friday saying the storm had “caused significant hardship to our nation.”
Cyclone Beryl made landfall in Grenada on Monday, where authorities said about 98 percent of buildings in Carriacou and Petite Martinique, home to a combined 9,000 to 10,000 people, were damaged or destroyed, including Carriacou’s main health facility. Crops were ravaged and fallen trees and power poles littered the streets.
“We have to rebuild from scratch,” said Dickon Mitchell, Grenada’s prime minister.
Aid was just beginning to arrive by boat in Carriacou on Friday, after rough seas and destroyed roads complicated response efforts, Simon Springett, the U.N. coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, said at a news conference Friday.
The storm then headed toward Jamaica, where heavy rains and damaging winds left their mark on Wednesday. Beryl was the strongest storm to approach the island in more than a decade. More than half of the customers of the country’s main electricity provider, Jamaica Public Service, were still without power Friday, the company said.
The storm tore off part of the roof of the boarding bridge at Jamaica’s main airport. Jamaican Transport Minister Daryl Vaz said a plan was being developed to determine how the airport would operate while the roof of the boarding and arrival areas was being repaired.
Cayman Islanders breathed a sigh of relief after Category 3 Hurricane Beryl passed without making landfall Thursday morning. No major damage, injuries or deaths were reported. However, authorities said they were still assessing the storm’s effects.
This hurricane season is expected to be busy.
Forecasters have warned that the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season could be much more active than usual.
In late May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 17 to 25 named storms are expected this year, The number is “above normal” and consistent with more than a dozen forecasts made earlier this year by experts from universities, private companies and government agencies. The hurricane season produces an average of 14 named storms.
Johnny Diaz, John Yoon, John Keefe, Mike IvesKenton X. Chance, Jovan Johnson, Emiliano Rodriguez Mega, Daphne Ewing-Chow, Aimee Ortiz, Derrick Bryson TaylorJulius Gittens, Remy Tumin, Jesus Jimenez, Orlando MayorquinSharefil Gaillard, Derek M. Norman, Christine HauserLinda Straker, Yan Zhuang And Claire Moses contribution to the report.
