Hurricane Beryl hits Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula

A hurricane that caused massive damage across the Caribbean has struck Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

Category 2 Hurricane Beryl slammed into the region’s coastline Friday morning, putting two million people and the popular tourist destinations of Cancun and Tulum at risk.

As the storm lashed the country’s southeastern coast, beaches were closed and thousands of soldiers were called in to help with rescue efforts.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned residents in the area to take shelter as the hurricane could bring “life-threatening conditions” throughout the day.

At least 10 people have been reported dead and many more missing across the Caribbean, with roofs ripped off buildings and power outages in thousands of homes.

Mexican authorities have taken steps to prepare the coastline for the hurricane.

Schools were closed, hotel windows were boarded up, and emergency shelters were set up in the hardest-hit areas.

People in Cancun rushed to supermarkets to stock up, and some saw empty shelves.

More than 8,000 troops, including Army, Air Force and National Guard members, have been deployed to the Yucatan Peninsula to provide support.

Some were seen patrolling the beach on Thursday, urging people to leave.

Mara Lazema, the governor of Quintana Roo state on the eastern side of the peninsula, urged residents to “stay home” in a video released overnight.

Hundreds of tourists have been evacuated from hotels across the coastline, and more than 3,000 people have fled the coast of Holbox Island, according to local authorities.

More than 300 flights were canceled or delayed.

“We just want to get home safely and pray for everyone else as well,” stranded American tourist Anita Lewis told Reuters on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Mexican tourist Virginia Revola, who was travelling to Tulum, told AFP: “They cancelled our flights and we had to pay for two extra nights.”

Hurricanes are common near the peninsula, and the official storm season runs from June to late November.

King Charles III expressed his “deep sorrow” for the devastation the hurricane caused in the Caribbean and the damage to several Commonwealth islands.

The Royal Navy dispatched a relief ship to the Cayman Islands.

Hurricane Beryl Jamaica assault on Wednesday After causing massive destruction in other Caribbean countries.

The Red Cross said their teams witnessed first-hand the life-threatening impact of Beryl’s rain.

“The magnitude of the devastation in the aftermath of the hurricane is real and heartbreaking,” Leah Pierre, disaster manager for the Caribbean Red Cross, told reporters via video call from Trinidad and Tobago.

Hurricane Beryl not only left a trail of destruction, it also broke records.

It was classified as a Category 2 hurricane on Friday, but was previously classified at a higher level.

It is the first hurricane to reach Category 4 intensity in June since NHC records began, and the fastest hurricane to reach Category 5 intensity, the highest level, in July.

Hurricane Beryl’s record-breaking intensity has put the role of climate change in the spotlight.

Because the causes of each storm are complex, it is difficult to fully explain any particular case in terms of climate change alone.

However, exceptionally high sea surface temperatures are observed as follows: The main reason why Hurricane Beryl was so powerful.

Beryl is expected to weaken rapidly over land and weaken to a tropical storm.

The storm is expected to move across the Gulf of Mexico into northeastern Mexico and southern Texas by the end of the weekend.

By the time it makes landfall again Sunday evening, the storm is expected to have strengthened back into a hurricane.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told residents along the state’s Gulf Coast to “make emergency plans to take care of yourself and your loved ones.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warns that as many as seven strong hurricanes could form in the North Atlantic this year, up from the average of three per season.