Cancun/Tulum, Mexico
Reuters
Tropical Storm Beryl passed over Mexico’s top beach destinations on Friday, bringing strong winds and heavy rain but without leaving major damage, after forging a deadly trail of destruction across the Caribbean.
The core of the storm, downgraded from a hurricane, crossed the Yucatan Peninsula by Friday afternoon, as its maximum wind speeds slowed to around 113 kph after it struck near the coastal beach resort of Tulum in the morning.
A person rides a bike in a flooded road as Hurricane Beryl strikes, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, on 5th July, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Jose Luis Gonzalez
While Beryl’s passage over Mexico’s Quintana Roo and Yucatan states resulted in slower winds, the US National Hurricane Center still forecast dangerous storm surges in the surrounding area.
For those who hunkered down as Beryl churned overhead, a sense of relief prevailed.
“Holy cow! It was an experience!” said Mexican tourist Juan Ochoa, who was staying in Tulum.
“Really only some plants flew up in the air,” he said. “Thank God we’re all OK.”
While major damage has not been reported in Mexico, many in the area have lost electricity, including 40 per cent of Tulum, said Guillermo Nevarez, an official with Mexico’s national electricity company CFE, speaking to local broadcaster Milenio.
Among Mexico’s top tourist getaways, the Yucatan Peninsula is known for its white-sand beaches, lush landscapes and Mayan ruins.
While “rapid weakening” is expected as it moves further inland and crosses the peninsula on Friday, according to the NHC, Beryl is expected to pick up intensity once it enters the Gulf of Mexico.
Beryl was the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season. It became this week the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, with scientists pointing to its rapid strengthening as almost certainly fuelled by human-caused climate change.
Beryl is about 105 kilometres east-south-east of the port of Progreso and a short distance inland from Merida, the colonial-era capital of Yucatan state.
The slow-moving storm churned northwest at just 24 kph by midday, according to the NHC.
People carry belongings as Hurricane Beryl advances and weakens, in Tulum, Mexico, on 5th Jul, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Raquel Cunha
Mexico’s national water commission, CONAGUA, flagged a risk of flooding around the tourist hubs, as well as in neighbouring Campeche state.
Quintana Roo schools were closed, as were local beaches, and officials lifted a temporary ban on alcohol sales.
Before reaching Mexico, Beryl wreaked havoc across several Caribbean islands. It swept through Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in addition to unleashing heavy rainfall on northern Venezuela. It has claimed at least 11 lives, tearing apart buildings while felling power lines and trees.
Destruction in the islands of Grenada was especially pronounced.
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell pointed to major damage to homes in Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique during a video briefing Thursday night. Parts of the latter two islands suffered “almost complete devastation,” he said.
“Many of our citizens have lost everything.”
The NHC predicts that Beryl will move toward north-eastern Mexico and south Texas later in the weekend.
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Mexico’s major oil platforms, primarily located in the southern rim of the Gulf of Mexico, are not expected to be affected or shut down, but some oil projects in US waters to the north had been temporarily paused due to Beryl’s expected path.
Research by the ClimaMeter consortium determined that climate change significantly intensified Beryl. According to the study, the storm’s severity, along with its associated rainfall and wind speed, saw an increase of 10 to30 per cent as a direct result of climate change.
Meanwhile, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on Friday that Hurricane Beryl caused devastating damage in several Caribbean islands.
Storms of a similar magnitude to the unusually fierce early season hurricane are expected to become more common due to the effects of climate change, said Rhea Pierre, the IFRC’s disaster manager for the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean.
“The severity of damages in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl are tangible and devastating,” said Pierre, speaking to reporters in Geneva via video link from Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago.
“Unfortunately, this new reality of unprecedented hurricanes is becoming the annual and ever present reality for the Caribbean countries who are facing the brunt of climate change,” she said, adding that higher sea surface temperatures caused storms to “strengthen quickly into major hurricanes”.
CFE personnel work on light poles that were hit by Hurricane Beryl, in Tulum, Mexico, on 5th July, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Raquel Cunha.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that humanitarian assessments were ongoing to get a better understanding of the extent of the damage caused by Beryl, which the World Meteorological Organization said was setting the tone for a very dangerous hurricane season.
OCHA spokesperson Vanessa Huguenin said partners in Grenada had reported extreme damage to the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, where 70 per cent and 97 per cent of buildings were damaged, respectively.
In Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 90 per cent of homes on Union Island were affected, while nearly all buildings on the island of Canouan sustained damage, Huguenin said.
“We are only at the beginning of the hurricane season. We still have a staggering five months to go,” Pierre said.
– Additional reporting by RAQUEL CUNHA in Tulum, RAUL CORTES FERNANDEZ and SARAH MORLAND in Mexico City and NATALIA SINIAWSKI in Gdansk, Poland.
