Hurricane Beryl made landfall on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula Friday morning after ravaging Jamaica and the Caribbean earlier this week, killing 11 people, as South Texas and the Gulf Coast braced for its arrival this weekend.
Beryl weakened Friday afternoon to a tropical storm, according to Mexico’s National Weather Service. The storm continues to weaken as it moves inland over the Yucatan Peninsula in the northeast of the country, but it could slowly regain intensity once it crosses the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Weather Service.
As of 1 p.m. local time, the storm’s center was still over the Yuctan, about 680 miles (1,090 km) from Brownsville, Texas, the center said. It was moving inland over Mexico with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (112 km/h).
The storm could dump up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain on parts of the Yucatan, increasing the risk of flash flooding, according to the hurricane center.
Beryl could also trigger strong rip currents on beaches throughout the Gulf Coast, the center said.
More:Hurricane Beryl Tracking: See the Storm’s Projected Track and Spaghetti Patterns as It Hits Mexico
“Yesterday was scary, but… we’re okay.”
A light rain in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, at noon Friday eased Gabi Vasquez’s concerns about the hurricane’s effects.
His auto repair business posted ads on social media offering to repair homes and property damaged by the storm. As of noon local time, no calls had been received.
“Yesterday was scary, but so far so good,” she said.
Her family, who lives in Tulum, also reassured her that they were safe. The electricity was even left on. “Internet, I don’t think they have it, but everything is fine,” she said.
Vasquez prepared for Beryl’s arrival herself, including securing the windows and doors of her home. “We also bought food like tuna, water and candles,” she said.
Hurricane Beryl expected to move toward southern Texas
The storm is likely to move toward southern Texas this weekend, forecasters warned.
“Today and Saturday will be our calm before the storm,” the National Weather Service in Corpus Christi wrote in an advisory issued Friday.
Beryl’s effects are expected to be felt Friday night, including a high risk of rip currents, the center said. By Saturday, the coast could see some minor flooding as showers begin to fall ahead of the hurricane’s arrival.
Residents should develop “preparedness plans,” forecasters said.
Several major urban areas in Texas, including Houston, Austin and San Antonio, are in the storm’s projected path, according to the National Weather Service advisory issued Friday morning.
In Houston, the weather service warned that locally heavy rain was the “primary severe weather threat” as Beryl makes landfall near or on the southern Texas coast Sunday night or early Monday and tracks generally northwestward through Wednesday.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday ordered the state’s Division of Emergency Management to increase its storm preparedness.
“As Texans and visitors to the southern coastal regions begin to celebrate our nation’s Independence Day, I urge them to develop an emergency plan, review hurricane evacuation routes and continue to monitor weather conditions to ensure their safety and the safety of their loved ones,” he wrote in a press release.
Forecasters aren’t sure if the storm will reach Austin, National Weather Service meteorologist Mack Morris told the Austin American-Statesman, a USA TODAY affiliate, on Thursday. By the time the storm reaches Texas, it could be downgraded to a Category 1, he added.
According to AccuWeather, the storm could strengthen into a hurricane again. It could make landfall again near the Texas-Mexico border Sunday night or Monday morning, forecasters predicted.
National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan advised Texans to continue checking forecasts through the weekend. If Beryl makes landfall in the western Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm, “that could happen sometime Saturday,” he said.
Live Webcam: Hurricane Beryl
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Some flights cancelled in Cancun as Hurricane Beryl approaches
More than 1,170 temporary shelters were set up across the Yucatan Peninsula ahead of the storm, according to a news release issued Thursday by the state government. Tulum’s international airport was closed and was expected to remain closed through Sunday. Cancun’s airport was operational, but many flights were canceled.
Beryl strengthened into the earliest Category 5 storm on record earlier this week, causing widespread damage as it passed over the Caribbean Sea.
The storm hit Grand Cayman, the largest of the Cayman Islands, on Thursday. The day before, it made landfall in Jamaica as a Category 4 hurricane, causing power outages, destroying buildings and forcing hundreds of people to seek refuge in emergency shelters.
Authorities updated the death toll from the storm to 11 on Thursday, but said news of additional deaths would likely come when communications were restored.
Watch:Record-breaking Hurricane Beryl barrels west toward Jamaica
Task force deployed following closure of US embassy
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico is scheduled to close Friday and is expected to reopen Monday.
The Mexican government has established a “prevention zone” on a stretch of the Yucatan coastline under a hurricane alert. Dozens of rivers and dams in the region are under surveillance, according to a press release issued Wednesday.
An intervention force composed of 8,535 intervention elements and 727 vehicles will be deployed, said Tania Patricia Ramírez Gutiérrez, director of Mexico’s National Communications Center, in the press release.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has advised people to seek high altitudes and take shelter in a post on X.
“Let us not hesitate, material goods can be recovered,” he wrote. “The most important thing is life.”
Jamaica and Caribbean Islands Assess Damage, Deaths from Hurricane Beryl
Hurricane Beryl’s arrival in Mexico comes after leaving widespread damage in its wake across the Caribbean.
The storm killed at least 11 people in Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and northern Venezuela.
Jamaica has confirmed that two people died in the hurricane, Prime Minister Andrew Holness told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in an interview Thursday. One body has not been recovered, Holness said.
“According to our information, this person was swept away by the sea, but we are still trying to see if we can recover the body,” he said.
A person in Hanover Parish was killed by a falling tree, said Richard Thompson, deputy director general of Jamaica’s Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management.
Holness said authorities were working to assess the damage to the island. “We have now moved from the preparedness phase to the recovery phase,” he said.
More than 90 percent of homes and buildings on three islands in the Grenadines archipelago were destroyed by the hurricane when it ripped through the coast earlier this week, the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency said Wednesday. St. Vincent and the Grenadines “was the hardest hit by Hurricane Beryl,” said Elizabeth Riley, executive director of the disaster management agency.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines could face food shortages after the storm destroyed half of the island’s plantain and banana crops, Agriculture Ministry permanent secretary Nerissa Gittens-McMillan said.
Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell called the level of destruction on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique “almost Armageddon-like” at a news conference Tuesday.
“There is really nothing that can prepare you for seeing this level of destruction.”
Contribution from Reuters
