Hurricane Rina
Hurricane Rina is forecast to strike Mexico as an intense hurricane at about 10:00 GMT on Thursday, October 27. Mexican officials issued a hurricane warning for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from north of Punta Gruesa to Cancun as the Category 2 storm strengthened.
Rina was packing 105 mph winds Tuesday afternoon and moving at 3 mph, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. Forecasters said it could become a Category 3 hurricane later Tuesday.
Riviera Maya and Playa del Carmen
Mexican authorities set up emergency shelters and cruise ships shifted course on Tuesday as Hurricane Rina strengthened off the Caribbean coast on a projected track that would carry it whirling through Cancun and the resort-filled Mayan Riviera, Mexico’s most popular tourist destination.
Rina’s maximum sustained winds have increased to 105 mph, said the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami, making it a Category 2 storm. Forecasters predict it will strengthen as it nears the Mexican coast Wednesday night before rolling over the island of Cozumel, a popular dive spot and cruise-ship port, then along the coast to Cancun. The area, dotted with Mayan ruins, also includes Playa del Carmen, another popular spot for international tourists.
Cancun Tourism Director Maximo Garcia said the city alone now has about 22,000 tourists even in the pre-holiday low season. Quintana Roo state as a whole has some 83,000 hotel rooms, most in the Mayan Riviera-Cancun area.
Hurricane Wilma
Hurricane Rina formed on the Oct. 24 anniversary of Hurricane Wilma’s 2005 landfall on the Southwest coast of Florida. The worst Huricane to hit Cancun, Hurricane Wilma, formed on October 15, 2005.
What Should You Prepare for?
According to the Saffir-Simpson damage scale the potential property damage and flooding from a storm ofRina’sstrength (category 3)at landfall includes:
- Storm surge generally 2.7-3.7 metres (9-12 feet) above normal.
- Some structural damage to small residences and utility buildings with a minor amount of curtainwall failures.
- Damage to shrubbery and trees with foliage blown off trees and large trees blown down.
- Mobile homes and poorly constructed signs are destroyed.
- Low-lying escape routes are cut by rising water 3-5 hours before arrival of the centre of the storm.
- Flooding near the coast destroys smaller structures with larger structures damaged by battering from floating debris.
- Terrain continuously lower than 1.5 metres (5 feet) above mean sea level may be flooded inland 13 km (8 miles) or more.
- Evacuation of low-lying residences within several blocks of the shoreline may be required.
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