Hurricane Beryl, which has already killed seven people, weakens as it approaches Mexico

Hurricane Beryl is losing intensity as it approaches the tourist coasts of Mexico, which it is expected to hit during the night from Thursday to Friday with winds of up to 175 km/h, after having earlier successively struck Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

Beryl is now moving with the force of a Category 2 hurricane towards the Yucatan Peninsula, according to the latest report from the National Hurricane Center (NHC), based in the United States, which considers it “dangerous”.

It is located 445 km (275 miles) off the coast of Tulum, a two-hour drive from Cancun, the region’s two main tourist destinations. Schools have been suspended in the area and reception centres have been set up for both tourists and locals, authorities said, as they also suspended all activity from 4pm Thursday (2300 GMT) in and around Tulum.

In Cancun, panic buying of basic necessities has been recorded in recent days in supermarkets and hotels have protected their windows as a precaution. “For now, everything is calm,” says Daniel, a taxi driver, noting that tourists have already canceled their trips.

Two passages in Mexico

Beryl will hit Mexican territory twice, first as a hurricane on the Yucatan Peninsula and then in the northwest after crossing the Gulf of Mexico, according to the government.

Preparations are also underway in the northwestern state of Tamaulipas, which borders the United States, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.

The first hurricane of the season in the Atlantic, Beryl, exceptionally powerful and early for the hurricane season, has already caused seven deaths along its path, including three in Venezuela.

In the Cayman Islands, the storm caused flash flooding and mudslides in the morning. In Jamaica, more than 400,000 people were left without power after it passed through on Wednesday and homes were flattened.

King Charles III, the head of state in several Caribbean countries, said Thursday he was “deeply saddened” by the “terrible destruction.”

Beryl became the earliest hurricane ever recorded by the U.S. weather service. It devastated several states including Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where “90 percent of the homes were washed away” on Union Island, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said.

Climate change

Scientists say climate change, particularly by warming the ocean waters that fuel these storms, is making it more likely that they will intensify rapidly and increasing the risk of more powerful hurricanes.

“It is clear that the climate crisis is pushing disasters to new record levels of destruction,” said Simon Stell, the UN Climate Change chief who is from Grenada, in a statement sent to AFP. His office said his late grandmother’s home was destroyed and his parents’ home was badly damaged in the hurricane.

Such a powerful storm is extremely rare so early in the hurricane season, which runs from early June to late November in the Atlantic.

The American meteorological observatory (NOAA) had warned at the end of May that the season was shaping up to be extraordinary, with the possibility of four to seven hurricanes of category 3 or more.

These forecasts are linked in particular to the expected development of the La Nina weather phenomenon, as well as to the very high temperatures of the Atlantic Ocean, explains NOAA.

The North Atlantic has been at record levels of warmth for more than a year, well above temperatures on record.