After graduating from Tropical Storm to Hurricane as it passed over Haiti, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, Hurricane Grace hit the coast of Mexico Thursday morning.
CNN reports the National Hurricane Center announcement that the Category 1 Hurricane made landfall near Tulum just before 5 AM CDT.
The eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula has been under a hurricane warning since Tuesday. Today, the NHC says the region, including Cancun, Cozumel and Punta Herrero, are in for strong winds, heavy rains, a dangerous storm surge, swells at sea creating “life-threatening” surf, and rip current conditions.
So far, the strongest winds - at 85 mph - have been measured at Playa del Carmen, and Cancun has seen 80 mph winds. Northern points on the peninsula may get up to a foot of rainfall in isolated places, which residents are warned “could lead to flash and urban flooding.”
Hurricane Grace has the slowly-recovering tourism industry in Mexico scrambling.
The report reveals that more than one hundred tourists were evacuated from hotels and resorts and taken to shelters Wednesday night, and local residents were urged to take shelter before Grace’s landfall Thursday morning.
Eight communities: Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Tulum, Solidaridad, Puerto Morelos, Benito Juárez, Lázaro Cárdenas, Isla Mujeres and Cozumel, were identified as “highest risk” by local authorities.
"In Tulum, hotels have been evacuated, and the tourists taken to different hotel shelters,” Quintana Roo state Gov. Carlos Joaquín González posted on social media.
"Crossings from Cancún to Isla Mujeres were suspended; all ports are already closed to navigation. Waves of up to 4 meters high are expected."
Meanwhile, at Sea
With ports closed and the hurricane closing in on Wednesday night, ships already in, or scheduled to sail into, the Yucatan region changed course.
One cruise blog notes that Hurricane Grace is affecting several cruise lines, including Carnival and Royal Caribbean. Cruise Fever reports that both lines have modified their scheduled itineraries as a result of Hurricane Grace.
Royal Caribbean’s Chief Meteorologist James Van Fleet posted this news Tuesday on social media:
“Update for @RoyalCaribbean Guests on #AdventureoftheSeas / #AllureoftheSeas and #Grace. For AD: Wed is now a Sea Day, Thur is #CocoCay. For AL: Wednesday is Roatan, Thursday is a Sea Day. Grace will likely be stronger than Models are indicating, so Thursday is out for Cozumel.” pic.twitter.com/bwd48mqmy8
Meanwhile, Carnival had two ships scheduled to call in port in Cozumel Thursday, but the Carnival Breeze and Carnival Vista are instead bypassing Cozumel and instead spending the day at sea.
To follow Hurricane Grace and its projected course, go to the web site of the National Hurricane Center.
