Furniture store employees board up windows for protection ahead of Hurricane Beryl’s expected arrival, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Wednesday, July 3, 2024.
Workers remove an advertisement from a billboard for protection ahead of Hurricane Beryl’s expected arrival, in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. State employees evacuate turtle eggs from the beach to protect them from the incoming Hurricane Beryl, in Cancun, Mexico, Wednesday, July 3, 2024.
The storm’s center was about 135 miles west of Grand Cayman island and 275 miles east-southeast of Tulum, Mexico. It had maximum sustained winds of 110 mph and was moving west-northwest at 18 mph. “I am just grateful for life although Beryl destroyed a lot of roofs and we don’t have any water or light ,” he said, declining to give his last name.
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. “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.”
But once Beryl re-emerges into the Gulf of Mexico a day later, she 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.