Hurricane Beryl pounds Yucatan, aims for Texas next

Hurricane Beryl made travelling nearly impossible in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Photo via Associated Press.

Hurricane Beryl battered Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday after hitting near the resort town of Tulum, whipping trees and knocking out power, while officials in Texas urged coastal residents to prepare as the storm moves toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Beryl hit Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane but weakened to a tropical storm as it moved across the peninsula. The U.S. National Hurricane Center expects Beryl to regain hurricane strength once it emerges into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, where it is forecast to head toward northeastern Mexico and southern Texas, an area soaked by Tropical Storm Alberto just a couple of weeks ago.

Beryl spread destruction in Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbados this week after becoming the earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic. Three people have been reported dead in Grenada, three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica, officials said.

Mexican authorities had moved some tourists and residents out of low-lying areas around the Yucatan Peninsula before landfall, but tens of thousands remained to tough out the strong winds and storm surge. Much of the area around Tulum is just a few yards (meters) above sea level.

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Republished with permission of the Associated Press.