Tropical Storm Beryl Revisited: “Our house is almost flooded!” by Desrine Campbell, a Texan in Old Harbour Bay, Jamaica

Some 1,432 people remained in shelters in Jamaica, like Desrine Campbell, a resident of the low-lying community of Old Harbour Bay, who wailed, “My house is almost flooded!”

Water and telecommunications were available on the island but sixty percent of the island was without electricity. Government officials were assessing the damage, but it was hampered by the lack of communication, mainly in southern parishes that suffered the most damage.

A woman died when a house collapsed on her and a young man was swept into a storm water drain while trying to retrieve a ball, Jamaican authorities said.

In the past days, Beryl ripped off roofs in Jamaica and wreaked havoc on islands in the Grenadines.

Velázquez said temporary storm shelters were in place at schools and hotels but 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.

But once Beryl re-emerges into the Gulf of Mexico a day later, forecasters say it is again expected to build to hurricane strength and could hit right around the Mexico-U.S. border, at Matamoros. That area was already soaked in June by Tropical Storm Alberto.

Myriam setra, a tourist from Dallas, Texas was having a sandwich on the beach and figured that the last of the sun would be in today. And then it’s just going to be hunker down and just stay indoors until hopefully it passes.”

Tulum, Mexico, During a Category 3 Superstorm Thursday Night – Emergency Services and Tourism Evacuation During the Decay

People were 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 stopped the gas and electricity. The emergency floor of the hotel contains two maintenance workers who will be locked down. They are staying in a room that is farthest from the beach.

Francisco Bencomo said all of their guests had left the hotel. He said that guests wouldn’t be allowed to return before July 10th because of the conditions.

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. The authorities shut down and emptied the hotels in Tulum.

Mexico’s popular Caribbean coast prepared shelters, evacuated some small outlying coastal communities and even moved sea turtle eggs off beaches threatened by storm surge.

Four-wheelers with megaphones told people to leave as the wind began to surge over the white sand beaches. Tourists took pictures of the swell, but military personnel urged them to leave as the storm headed for the coast.

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 strengthened back into a Category 3 storm later that day as it churned toward Mexico, but weakened before making landfall.

Puerto Valle del Sur de Beryl a’arregime sobre una h’avio da m’atica del flujo

“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.”

While larger than Mexico’s other popular tourist destination, it still holds many tourists and locals. President Lpez Obrador said in his statement that we should watch out for a direct hit on Tulum.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Beryl, which was the earliest Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, now had winds of 115 mph (185 kph ) after weakening earlier Thursday.

Carlton Golding said he lost everything this time. The second time Golding has been damaged by a storm, his house was completely destroyed.

The residents of Clarendon tried to repair damaged roofs and clear downed trees. There are many roads that were partially blocked from downed telecommunication and electricity 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.

Michelle Forbes, the St. Vincent and Grenadines director of the National Emergency Management Organization, said that about 95% of homes in Mayreau and Union Island have been damaged by Hurricane Beryl.

Tropical Storm Aletta, a Major Hurricane, is Coming. The Killing of Union Island, Grenada, Saint Vincent, and the Grenadines

Three people were reported killed in Grenada and Carriacou and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said. Three other deaths were reported in northern Venezuela, where four people were missing, officials said.

Separately, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Thursday that Tropical Storm Aletta had formed in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico’s coast. 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.

The United Nations is making $4 million in emergency relief funds available to Grenada, Jamaica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. A growing number of humanitarian aid groups are also mobilizing to help affected residents across the Caribbean.

The Prime Minister said in a 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 complete destruction of the electrical grid system in Carriacou. The entire communication system is completely 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.

The Belize-Mexico-Jamaica Hurricane Beryl Landfall: State and Local Authorities are Preferring Water and Telecommunications Power during Independence Day

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’sIndependence Day, I urge them to make an emergency plan, review Hurricane evacue routes and monitor weather conditions to ensure the safety of their loved ones,” Abbott said.

Abbott ordered the Texas Division of Emergency Management to raise the level of readiness at the emergency operations center. People with recreational vehicles in some county parks were issued a voluntary evacuation notice, while officials in some other counties will be giving out bags this weekend.

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 some of this country back on its feet. Kingston and Montego Bay are the first big cities to get power. It will take a long time in the rural communities.

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

Detection of a Hurricane-Force Wind and Waves in a Cancun, Mexico, Hurricane-Frame-Trail Destination

Cancun, home to beaches and Mayan ruins, is a popular vacation destination. More than 3000 tourists were evacuated from a resort in Mexico on Thursday and at least 100 flights were canceled, according to reports.

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. It says the region could see between four and six inches of rain.