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Cayman Islands issues all clear after Jamaica battered

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Mexico's Yucatan in path, Cancun braces for impact

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At least 10 dead in Caribbean islands, Venezuela

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Parts of St. Vincent and the Grenadines 'flattened'

By Jose Cortes and Paola Chiomante

TULUM/CANCUN, Mexico, July 4 (Reuters) - Hurricane Beryl

zeroed in on Mexico's top tourist resorts on Thursday evening

after churning past the Cayman Islands and belting Jamaica with

winds that tore apart buildings and uprooted trees.

Beryl, now at Category 2 strength, has left behind a deadly

trail of destruction across several smaller Caribbean islands

over the past few days.

It had crossed over the Cayman Islands and was on a path to

strike the Mexican beach resort of Tulum, on the Yucatan

peninsula's eastern coast, on Thursday night or early Friday.

At least 100 flights were canceled at Cancun's international

airport Thursday, as tourists scrambled to catch the last ones

out.

Stragglers perused the beach in Cancun on Thursday evening

as winds began picking up. In nearby Playa del Carmen, police

blocked off beach entrances with yellow caution tape to dissuade

visitors ahead of Beryl's arrival.

The unusually fierce, early hurricane was located about 180

miles (290 km) east of Tulum, according to the U.S. National

Hurricane Center (NHC).

Earlier on Thursday, officials in the Cayman Islands issued

the all clear after the storm spared them the worst.

"We had ever confidence that the Lord would hear our prayer,

and I am absolutely delighted to say that he has delivered us,"

Premier Juliana O'Connor-Connolly said on Thursday.

Caribbean islands further east were less fortunate.

Authorities say at least 11 people have died across Jamaica,

Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and in northern

Venezuela.

The toll could rise, especially 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 in the

southwestern Jamaican town of Bogue. He described felled power

lines, roads blocked with debris and "tremendous damage" to

farms.

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 on Thursday.

There were two deaths in Jamaica related to the storm, Prime

Minister Andrew Holness said in an interview on CBC on Thursday.

Still, most Jamaicans were "giving thanks," Holness said,

after having "escaped the worst".

Beryl's maximum sustained winds had dipped to 110 mph (177

kph), and it was forecast to dump 4-6 inches (10-15 centimeters)

of rain on Mexico's Yucatan late Thursday and into Friday, with

as much as 10 inches in some places, the NHC said.

The hurricane center expects the storm to weaken rapidly as

it crosses the Yucatan peninsula early Friday, but is seen

getting stronger when Beryl moves over the Gulf of Mexico.

The storm is expected to move toward northeastern Mexico and

southern Texas late in the weekend, the NHC said.

TOURISTS BEWARE

Mexico's top tourist destination Cancun is a short distance

from Tulum, both located where Beryl is forecast to cross.

Around 3,000 tourists had been evacuated from Isla Mujeres

back to the mainland near Cancun, the island's tourism director

Jose Magana said.

Workers could be seen filling up sand bags and boarding up

shop and hotel doors and windows.

Fisherman Jose Martin was one of several who docked his boat

in Cancun ahead of Beryl's arrival.

"It affects us a good deal because, first, we can't work,

and second, we need to find shelter, so it's not good," Martin

said.

Schools in the state of Quintana Roo were closed Thursday

and Friday. Mexico's defense ministry opened around 120 storm

shelters in the area, ahead of expected flooding.

Government workers in Cancun on Wednesday saved over 10,000

turtle eggs that were at risk of being swept away.

Residents in Tulum lined up at gas stations to fill their

tanks and additional containers, while hotels and tourist

complexes removed loose furniture and equipment.

Mexico's major oil platforms, most of which are clustered

around the southern Gulf of Mexico's shallow waters, are not

expected to be shut down or otherwise affected.

Offshore oil projects to the north, in U.S. territorial

waters, could be hit, according to the hurricane's expected

trajectory.

Chevron Corp ( CVX ) said on Thursday that non-essential

personnel from its Gulf of Mexico facilities, including workers

at its Anchor platform, are being removed due to the approaching

storm.

Beryl is the 2024 Atlantic season's first hurricane and at

its peak earlier this week was the earliest Category 5 storm on

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

has forecast a large number of major hurricanes in what it has

predicted will be an "extraordinary" storm season this year. The

season runs from the start of June to the end of November

Beryl's destructive power, coming so early in the hurricane

season, underscores the consequences of a warmer Atlantic Ocean.

Scientists say human-caused climate change is fueling extreme

weather.