4 reported dead in Jamaica

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

Hurricane Emily begins lashing Mexican coast
4 die in Jamaica; thousands flee ahead of landfall at Yucatan peninsula
Tourists wait outside of their hotel to be taken to temporary shelters in Cancun, Mexico on Sunday.
Dario Lopez-Mills / AP


• Collision course
July 17: Hurricane Emily was bearing down on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Sunday, where thousands were told to flee the storm’s path. NBC’s Ron Mott reports.
Nightly News




Updated: 10:06 p.m. ET July 17, 2005
CANCUN, Mexico - Hurricane Emily weakened slightly as it began lashing the beaches of the Yucatan peninsula on Sunday, hours after thousands of jittery tourists streamed out of their waterfront hotels and fled inland to shelter at schools and gymnasiums.

The Category 4 storm caused heavy flooding that swept four people to their deaths in Jamaica on Saturday. In Mexico, it downed signs, toppled trees and whipped white sands from the beaches in Cancun.

Two people also were killed in a helicopter crash in the Gulf of Mexico as more than 15,500 workers were evacuated from offshore oil platforms, raising to seven the number of people killed in the second major hurricane of the Atlantic season.


180,000 relocated ahead of storm
Emily’s winds decreased from 145 mph to 135 mph as it bore down on the peninsula Sunday evening and would likely weaken further as it headed toward the Gulf, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

Emily was likely to make landfall again on Wednesday anywhere from northeastern Mexico to southern Texas, said Jack Beven, the hurricane specialist at the Miami-based center said. He cautioned it was too early to make a precise prediction.


In Cancun, hundreds of buses moved 30,000 tourists to temporary shelters, part of the 70,000 to 80,000 people being evacuated statewide from resorts like Tulum, Playa de Carmen and Cozumel. Cancun’s airport closed Sunday afternoon after thousands lined up at ticket counters, trying to get flights out before the storm hit.

By late afternoon, heavy winds tugged at palm trees and sent the last people at the beach running for their cars.

Christopher Espinoza of Cancun braved howling bursts of wind to look out over the pounding surf. “The waves are already starting to take away part of the beach,” he said.

Erosion has long been a problem for Cancun, and waves were starting to lap almost at the doorsteps of some hotels.



Tourists flee hurricane’s path
Hundreds of mostly foreign tourists lay shoulder-to-shoulder on thin foam pads in a sweltering gymnasium near the center of Cancun, one of Mexico’s most popular tourist destinations known for its white-sand beaches, sprawling hotel complexes and all-night discos.

The evacuees were given free bottled water and sandwiches, but many gasped when a hard rain rattled the metal roof of the building. Some asked how long they would have to remain.

“It’s hot in here,” said Beth McGhee, 46, a tourist from Independence, Mo. “We feel like we’ve been kept in the dark until this morning. But we’re safe, and that’s what’s important.”

Cancun’s grim-faced mayor, Francisco Alor, said the city was preparing for a near-direct hit by Emily.

“This hurricane is coming with the same force as Gilbert,” he said referring to a notorious 1988 hurricane that killed 300 people in Mexico and the Caribbean.

The city’s last big evacuation was for Gilbert. But in 1988, the city and surrounding resort areas had only about 8,000 hotel rooms. That number has since grown to over 50,000.

Tourism and hotel officials had said guests of beachside hotels would be relocated to ballrooms and convention centers in larger, well-protected hotels, but the first wave of evacuees was ferried to gymnasiums and government schools.

Jamaican family swept away
In Jamaica, torrential rains drenched the south coast and washed away at least three houses, while a man, a woman, an infant boy and his 5-year-old sister were swept away in a car Saturday night. Searchers on Sunday found the four bodies trapped inside the car, which was filled with mud and other debris, police said.

The family had been driving through a flooded rural road in southwest Jamaica when a surge of water pushed them over a cliff.

The Cayman Islands escaped major damage Saturday. The islands and a handful of other Caribbean countries were devastated last year when three catastrophic hurricanes — Frances, Ivan and Jeanne — tore through the region with a collective ferocity not seen in years, causing hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars in damage.

On Sunday evening, the center of the storm was about 90 miles southeast of Cozumel, an island just south of Cancun, and was approaching the peninsula at about 20 mph.

Tourists in Cozumel also were moved to more central accommodations and local residents prepared to flee their homes for shelters in schools and communities on the island.

President Vicente Fox encouraged peninsula residents to seek shelter and not worry about leaving property and possessions unguarded.

Oil workers evacuated
State oil company Pemex was removing the last few hundred workers from oil platforms on the Gulf of Mexico. Strong winds downed a helicopter participating in the evacuation on Saturday night, killing a pilot and co-pilot, the company said.

The platform evacuations closed 63 wells and halting the production of 480,000 barrels of oil per day.

Emily has unleashed heavy surf, gusty winds and torrential rains across the Caribbean, hitting hard Thursday at Grenada, where at least one man was killed when his home was buried under a landslide.

The storm trailed Hurricane Dennis, which killed at least 25 people in Haiti and 16 in Cuba earlier this month.

Forecasters have predicted up to 15 Atlantic tropical storms this year, including three to five major hurricanes. The hurricane season began June 1 and runs through Nov. 30.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[EDR1222]

Sorry to hear of the deaths

Hopefully anyone in the storms path will take it very seriously.

[Dean4Storms]

When did Hurricane Frances hit the Carib. last year, I must have missed that one?

[Andrew92]

When did Hurricane Frances hit the Carib. last year, I must have missed that one?

Didn't hit the Caribbean. Maybe you're thinking of Ivan?

Frances stayed just north of the Caribbean....just close. enough for some squally weather though. However, I don't think there was any significant damage in the Caribbean from Frances.

-Andrew92

[Hurricaneman]

This is not good

[Swimdude]

I really hate to say this, but if we manage only 4 deaths with this hurricane, i'll be amazed. Either way, I doubt we'll be seeing 'Emily' ever again.

[Wnghs2007]

May God be with there families.

[Derek Ortt]

emily is the only cane to have affected land TWICE as a major and not have been retired. Somehow, she has her revenge

[Anonymous]

[hicksta]

[Swimdude]

emily is the only cane to have affected land TWICE as a major and not have been retired. Somehow, she has her revenge

When was this?

[HurricaneBill]

emily is the only cane to have affected land TWICE as a major and not have been retired. Somehow, she has her revenge

I always had a feeling Emily would enter this season with a score to settle.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atl ... /track.gif


She wented reverge for not being retired. I hate to see what she can come back as if she doe's not get retired this time.


Darn this thing has hit land 3 times as a Major!!!

http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atl ... /track.gif