Mexico City [Mexico], July 5: Hurricane Beryl churned over the Cayman Islands on Thursday as it took aim at some of Mexico's top tourist resorts, after belting Jamaica with winds that uprooted trees and tore apart buildings.
Over the past few days, Beryl, now at Category 2 strength, has left behind a deadly trail of destruction across several smaller Caribbean islands.
At least 10 people are know dead as a result of the storm, a number that could rise, especially in the eastern Caribbean as communications are restored on islands devastated by extensive flooding and powerful winds.
"We're happy to be alive, happy that the damage was not more extensive," said Joseph Patterson, a bee keeper active in local politics who lives in the southwestern Jamaican town of Bogue in St Elizabeth parish. He described felled power lines, roads blocked with debris and "tremendous damage" to local farms.
Around 1,000 people hunkered down in shelters on Wednesday evening, Richard Thompson, acting head of Jamaica's disaster agency told local media. So far, only one death has been attributed to Beryl, he said.
More than half of the customers of the island nation's main electricity company were without power on Thursday afternoon.
Beryl's center skirted Jamaica's southern coast, pummeling communities as a powerful Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale before weakening slightly later in the day.
Its winds are expected to slow further over next day or two, but will likely remain at hurricane strength until it approaches Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
By Thursday afternoon, Beryl had crossed over the Cayman Islands. The unusually fierce, early hurricane was located about 135 miles (217 kilometers) west of Grand Cayman, the largest of the three islands that make up the British territory, according to the latest advisory from the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
It was on a path to strike the popular Mexican beach resort of Tulum, on the Yucatan peninsula's eastern coast, later on Thursday night or early Friday morning.
Beryl's maximum sustained winds had dipped to 110 mph (177 kph), and was dumping 4-6 inches (10-15 centimeters) of rain on the Cayman Islands, where life-threatening surf and rip currents were possible, the NHC said. A similar amount of rainfall is expected over Mexico's Yucatan.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation