YUCATAN, Mexico — The National Hurricane Center in Miami said that “Weakening is forecast during the next day or two, though Beryl is expected to remain a hurricane until it makes landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula.”
As of 1 p.m. Thursday, Hurricane Beryl had weakened again. Now a Category 2 storm, Beryl has winds at 110 mph.
The forecast from the National Hurricane Center takes the storm across the Yucatan on Friday as a strong Cat. 1 or weak Cat. 2, then into the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm that may be able to reach Cat. 1 intensity before making landfall in northern Mexico or South Texas.
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.
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. In Tulum, Mexico's Navy patrolled the streets telling tourists in Spanish and English to prepare for the storm's arrival. Everything was scheduled to shut down by midday.
Francisco Bencomo, General manager of Hotel Umi in Tulum said all of their guests had left. “With these conditions, we’ll be completely locked down," he said, adding there were no plans to have guests return before July 10th.
“We’ve cut the gas and electricity. We also have an emergency floor where two maintenance employees will be locking down,” he said from the hotel. “We have them staying in the room farthest from the beach and windows.”
“I hope we have the least impact possible on the hotel, that the hurricane moves quickly through Tulum, and that it’s nothing serious,” he said.
Myriam Setra, a 34-year-old tourist from Dallas, Texas was having a sandwich on the beach Thursday. Her flight home was scheduled for Friday, but Beryl had not persuaded her to leave early.
“I figured I’d rather be stuck in Mexico for an extra day, than go back two days early to the United States,” Setra said. “So, went out and bought a bunch of groceries. Figured we’d get the last of the sun in today, too. And then it’s just going to be hunker down and just stay indoors until hopefully it passes.”
The head of Mexico’s civil defense agency, Laura Velázquez, said Thursday that Beryl is expected to be a Category 1 hurricane when it hits a relatively unpopulated stretch of Mexico’s Caribbean coast south of Tulum early Friday.
Velázquez said temporary storm shelters were being set up at schools and hotels in case they are needed. She efforts to evacuate a few highly exposed villages — like Punta Allen, which sits on a narrow spit of land south of Tulum — had been only partially successful.
Once Beryl re-emerges into the Gulf of Mexico a day later, Velasquez said 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.
No matter the location of landfall, it is important to note that distant hurricanes can be deadly. We will see impacts from Beryl here in Southeast Texas even though landfall will likely be many miles south of us.
When hurricanes and tropical storms enter the Gulf of Mexico, the body of water acts like a bathtub. Churning waters cause rough seas and high rip current risks hundreds of miles of away. As we have seen fatalities within the past few months from high rip currents from Galveston to Surfside Beach, this hazard will return as Beryl edges into the Gulf of Mexico by the end of this upcoming weekend.
If you are heading to the coast, it is important to stay out of the water if you see red flags.
Also, coastal flooding is possible during high tide times. During high tide, expect less beach access. Once water recedes, beach erosion is possible creating drop-off hazards and damage to structures along the beach.