Tourists are being evacuated and cruise ships have been forced to alter course in the Caribbean as Hurricane Rina strengthens off the Mexican coast.
Forecasters predict Rina will gain strength as it nears landfall before rolling over the popular cruise port island of Cozumel then along the coast to the mass tourist destination of Cancun.
State tourism director Juan Carlos Gonzalez Hernandez said there were about 83,000 tourists in the state, with about 45,000 of those in stretch of coast south of Cancun that includes Tulum and Playa de Carmen, and almost 28,000 in Cancun.
There were only about 1,719 tourists in Cozumel, and many of them were leaving, Gonzalez Hernandez said. “In the case of Cozumel, which could be hit hardest, people are leaving of their own accord and are cutting their reservations short,” he said.
Rina’s maximum sustained winds have increased to 110mph, according to the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami, Florida, making it a Category 2 storm.
Authorities have evacuated the small, low-lying fishing village of Punta Allen, just south of Tulum while emergency shelters have been set up in other areas. The coastal area around Tulum is dotted with Mayan ruins, and further north is Playa del Carmen, the departure point for ferries to Cozumel.
Forecasters said Rina was likely to strengthen into a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of about 115mph. The forecast track shows it curving east toward Cuba by the weekend. But senior hurricane specialist Michael Brennan at the hurricane centre is reported as saying it could also move towards southern Florida.
The storm could produce as much as 16 inches of rain over at least parts of the eastern Yucatan Peninsula while raising water levels by as much as five to seven foot in places.