Cancun Today

Continuously updated satellite image. 

Hurricane Dean made landfall as a Category Five hurricane at 3:30 a.m. today at Majahual, 190 miles south of Cancun. Winds were estimated as high as 185 mph.

As of 7:42 a. m., basic services are functioning normally in Cancun. Some public transportation has been suspended, including ADO long-distance bus service. All traffic signal lights were removed prior to the storm. Civil defense authorities have asked the population to stay at home and avoid unnecessary movement. Weather remains windy with some rain, but clouds are now lifting somewhat.

Access to the Hotel Zone is restricted by a police checkpoint at the entrance. Elements of the Mexican army and the Policía Federal Preventiva (PFP) are patrolling Boulevard Kukulcán. According to our local newspaper, Novedades de Quintana Roo, high waves have flooded the beach at Playa Mirador as a result of the fierce winds. Hurricane Dean is approximately at the halfway mark in its progress across the state. All airports in Quintana Roo are closed.

Continue Reading »

CNN — At 8 p.m., Dean’s eye was located about 210 miles (435 kilometers) east of Chetumal, Mexico, the hurricane center said. The storm was moving west at about 20 mph (32 kph).

Continue Reading »

Hurricane Dean, from the international space station, Saturday, Aug. 18, 2007. (AP Photo/NASA TV)

Translated from Notimex:

Governor Félix González Canto has decreed a red alert for the southern parts of Quintana Roo due to the imminent arrival of hurricane Dean. The northern area of the state, including Cancun, Cozumel and Isla Mujeres remain in orange alert while the storm continues on its current trajectory.

Approximately 7 p.m. tropical storm strength winds will be felt along the coast. Dean should make landfall near Majahual, 190 miles south of Cancun, at two a.m. Tuesday, and at about 10 a.m. continue across the Yucatan, Campeche and the Gulf of Mexico.

The current forecast puts it in the southern area of the state of Quintana Roo, with the fringe touching Cancun. As of 10:22 pm, Aug. 20, 2007, all public services are functioning in Cancun. We are experiencing wind and rain in the Hotel Zone, but nothing heavier than a tropical storm so far.

It now looks as if it will hit land south of Tulum. If so, Cancun will not be severely affected.

Whew.

Chattanooga Times Free Press –AP–Tourists also streamed out of resorts on Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula and formed long lines at the airport to try to fly home. Twelve empty planes had arrived Sunday to move travelers out, said airport spokesman Eduardo Rivadeneira.

Forecasters said Sunday that Dean’s eye could come ashore on a sparsely populated stretch of the coast about 100 miles south of Cancun, sparing the resort city that was ravaged by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. The nearest beach town, Tulum, is about 25 miles north of where the hurricane is expected to make landfall.

The Quintana Roo state government has set up 530 storm shelters in schools and other public buildings, with an estimated capacity to hold 73,000 people. Hundreds of people have already been ordered to evacuate from low-lying areas along the coast.

(CNN) — Hurricane Dean gained fury Saturday as it moved across the Caribbean and headed toward a dangerous rendezvous Sunday with Jamaica, by which time forecasters fear Dean will be a destructive Category 5 monster packing 155 mph winds.

And even worse could be yet to come. The latest forecast predicts that by Monday, as Dean nears Cancun and other tourist areas along Mexico’s eastern Yucatan coast, its sustained winds will be 160 mph, with gusts as high as 195 mph — wreaking new havoc on an area heavily damaged just two years ago by Hurricane Wilma. Continue Reading »