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Hurricane Delta lashes Mexico's Yucatan, then heads for US

Hurricane Delta lashes Mexico's Yucatan, then heads for US

A couple rides a motorcycle along a flooded street after the passing of Hurricane Delta in Tizimin, Mexico, Wednesday, Oct 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

CANCUN: Hurricane Delta emerged into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday (Oct 7) and headed toward Louisiana after making landfall just south of the Mexican resort of Cancun, toppling trees and cutting power to residents of the Yucatan peninsula's resort-studded coast.

The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said Delta weakened to a Category 1 storm during the afternoon, but it began strengthening again while moving over the southern Gulf, rising to maximum sustained winds of 150kmh by evening. It was expected to gain even more strengthen before reaching the US Gulf Coast.

Delta could make landfall, possibly as a Category 3 storm, sometime Friday south of Morgan City, Louisana, the forecast said. On Wednesday evening, the storm was centred about 890km south-southeast of Cameron, La., and heading northwest at 28kmh.

A man cycles along an empty street after the passing of Hurricane Delta in Valladolid, Mexico, Wednesday, Oct 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

The hurricane came ashore in Mexico around 5.30am on Wednesday with top winds of 175kmh. Officials said it caused no deaths or injuries, but did force hundreds of tourists to take refuge in storm shelters. It knocked out power to about 266,000 customers, or about one-third of the total on the Yucatan peninsula.

There were no reports of any deaths or injuries, said Carlos Joaquín González, the governor of the state of Quintana Roo.

“Fortunately, the most dangerous part of the hurricane has passed,” Joaquín González said, noting the big problem was downed trees that had knocked out power lines and blocked roadways.

Civil defence official Luís Alberto Ortega Vázquez said that as the storm approached about 39,000 people were evacuated in the states of Quintana Roo and Yucatan. He said about 2,700 people took refuge in storm shelters in the two states.

Joaquín González said on Wednesday that most of the tourists had returned to their hotels but a shelter had been opened to accommodate people stranded in Cancun by the cancellation of 157 airline flights. He said the international airport would resume its normal operations on Thursday.

A lifeguard tower lays on its side after it was toppled over by Hurricane Delta in Cancun, Mexico, early Wednesday, Oct 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Victor Ruiz Garcia)

There were reports of some flooding in Cozumel and Playa del Carmen. Overnight emergency calls came in from people whose windows or doors were broken and they were taken to shelters, the governor said.

More than a thousand trees were knocked down by strong winds, but authorities expressed confidence that electricity would be restored to 80 per cent of those affected by Wednesday night.

Early Wednesday, guests of the Fiesta Americana Condesa hotel awoke in the sweltering classrooms of the Technological Institute of Cancun campus where they had been moved on Tuesday.

All of the windows at the campus had been covered with plywood so they couldn't see what was happening, but they said the howling winds started around 2am and there had been heavy rain. The power - and with it the air conditioning - had been knocked out early on Wednesday so it was steamy as tourists used their cell phone light to get up and make their way for a first cup of coffee.

Authorities said most of the tourists had returned to their hotels but a shelter had been opened to accommodate people stranded in Cancun by the cancellation of 157 airline flights. (Photo: AP)

By early afternoon they were returned to their hotel and the state announced that businesses could reopen at 3pm and the ban on alcohol sales was lifted.

“The hard part has been the waiting,” said Ana Karen Rodríguez of Monterrey. She and a friend arrived in Cancun on Tuesday morning and by afternoon were shuttled to the shelter. She said the hotel had planned well. “It’s been good. I feel comfortable actually.”

Throughout the day on Tuesday, the situation had appeared grave for this stretch of the Mexican coast.

Delta had increased in strength by 129 kmh in just 24 hours, and its top winds peaked at 230 kmh before it weakened as it neared the shore.

Thousands of Quintana Roo residents and tourists hunkered down in government shelters. Everyone had been ordered off the streets by 7pm.

Soldiers survey damage from Hurricane Delta in Cancun, Mexico, Wednesday, Oct 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Victor Ruiz Garcia)

The evacuations of low lying areas, islands and the coastline expanded as Delta exploded over the warm Caribbean waters offshore. Much of Cancun’s hotel zone was cleared out as guests were bused to inland shelters. In Cancun alone, the government opened 160 shelters.

State tourism officials said more than 40,000 tourists were in Quintana Roo, a fraction of what would normally be there. Delta’s damage comes on top of months of pandemic-induced lockdown that has devastated the state’s tourism industry.

People in Louisiana or Mississippi should prepare now for hurricane-force winds to begin hitting their coastlines on Friday, the hurricane centre advised.

A Starbucks coffee shop sign leads back after being pushed by winds from Hurricane Delta in Cancun, Mexico, Wednesday, Oct 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Victor Ruiz Garcia)

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said Delta was expected to make landfall there on Friday night or Saturday morning and the entire state is in the storm’s possible path. State and local officials in coastal areas were shoring up levees, sandbagging and taking other protections measures, he said.

Louisiana is still recovering from Hurricane Laura, which ravaged the southwestern region as it roared ashore as a Category 4 storm in August. More than 6,600 Laura evacuees remain in hotels around the state, mainly in New Orleans, because their homes are too heavily damaged to return.

In a residential neighbourhood on the south side of Cancun, downed trees littered streets. Neighbours with machetes worked alongside firefighters and soldiers to clear the fallen timber.

A man takes pictures of the sea during the passing of Hurricane Delta in Cancun, Mexico, Wednesday, Oct 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Victor Ruiz Garcia)

The neighbourhood, like much of the city, lost electricity and phone service early on Wednesday. Once the strongest winds had subsided, residents emerged from their homes to assess the damage and take photos, momentarily forgetting the pandemic, masks and social distancing.

Pilar Sánchez said the fierce wind blowing through the bars on her windows woke her around 4am. “Minutes later the power went and you could hear strong wind shaking the trees,” she said. She was still a bit shaken, but said she had lived through hurricanes there before.

Source: AP/kv

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