As Hurricane Beryl bears down on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, officials are racing against time to prepare for the storm’s arrival.
With winds of 130 mph (215 kph) and heavy rainfall expected, the government has deployed hundreds of military personnel, marines, and electricity workers to mitigate damage.
“We will have intense rains and wind gusts” from Thursday, warned Laura Velazquez, Civil Protection national coordinator. The government has set up 112 shelters with a capacity for 20,000 people and suspended school in Quintana Roo, where Beryl is expected to make landfall.
The storm has already left a trail of destruction in the Caribbean, killing at least seven people and leaving over 400,000 without power in Jamaica. “Life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides from heavy rainfall” are still expected in Jamaica, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).
In Kingston, Jamaica, Desmon Brown, manager of the National Stadium, said his staff had prepared as much as possible. “We’ve taped up our windows, covered our equipment…there’s not much we can do,” Brown said.
Beryl is expected to pass south of the Cayman Islands overnight, bringing hurricane-force winds, storm surge, and damaging waves. The storm has rapidly strengthened, becoming the first to reach Category 4 in June and the earliest to reach Category 5 in July since records began.
Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness has declared a curfew and urged evacuation, while Mexico prepares for the storm’s arrival. The NHC warns of “life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides” in both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
