Hurricane Beryl regains Category 3 status ready for direct hit on Tulum, Mexico as tourists evacuate

Hurricane Beryl has intensified back into a menacing Category 3 storm as it barrels towards the idyllic resort of Tulum on Mexico' s Caribbean coast, with an early Friday landfall expected.

Officials are urging tourists to abandon the picturesque white sand beaches. Previously reaching Category 5 status, the earliest in Atlantic history, Beryl downgraded to Category 2 before its winds picked up again late Thursday, hitting speeds of 115 mph (185 kph) as it approached the Yucatan Peninsula , per the US National Hurricane Center.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador warned late Thursday of Beryl's potential direct strike on Tulum , a smaller but bustling hub compared to Cancun, teeming with thousands of tourists and locals. President Lopez Obrador advised: "It is recommendable that people get to higher ground, shelters or the homes of friends or family elsewhere," adding, "Don't hesitate, material possessions can be replaced."

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Tulum, once a tranquil village, has seen explosive growth and unrestrained development in recent years, boasting around 50,000 permanent residents and a daily tourist population to match. Despite its new international airport, Tulum remains predominantly flat and just a few yards (meters) above sea level.

As dawn broke on Friday, the eye of the storm loomed approximately 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Tulum, advancing westward at a pace of 16 mph (about 26 kph), according to the hurricane center. On Friday, Beryl was forecasted to lose strength as it traversed the Yucatan peninsula and re-emerged in the Gulf of Mexico.

Here, the surprisingly resilient storm could regain hurricane status and make a second landfall around Mexico's border with Texas next week. As winds started whipping Tulum's beaches, four-wheelers equipped with megaphones patrolled the sands, urging people to evacuate.

While tourists were busy capturing images of the swelling surf, military personnel were encouraging them to depart. Authorities across the Yucatan peninsula have readied shelters, evacuated some small peripheral coastal communities, and even relocated sea turtle eggs from beaches at risk from the storm surge.

In Tulum, officials shut down operations and evacuated beachside hotels. Francisco Bencomo, the general manager of Hotel Umi in Tulum, confirmed that all their guests had departed.

"With these conditions, we'll be completely locked down," he stated, adding there were no plans for guests to return before July 10. "We've cut the gas and electricity. We also have an emergency floor where two maintenance employees will be locking down," he explained from the hotel. "We have them staying in the room farthest from the beach and windows."

"I hope we have the least impact possible on the hotel, that the hurricane moves quickly through Tulum, and that it's nothing serious," he expressed. Tourists are taking no chances as Lara Marsters, 54, a therapist from Boise, Idaho, visiting Tulum, shared her strategy: "This morning we woke up and just filled all of our empty water bottles with water from the tap and put it in the freezer ... so we will have water to flush the toilet."

She's bracing for power outages, saying: "We expect that the power will go out. We're going to hunker down and stay safe." Meanwhile, Myriam Setra, a 34-year-old Dallas tourist, seized the moment for some sunshine on the beach, noting: "Figured we'd get the last of the sun in today, too. And then it's just going to be hunker down and just stay indoors until hopefully it passes."

But the storm's path is concerning as Beryl, once it moves back over the Gulf of Mexico, is forecasted to regain hurricane strength, potentially striking near the Mexico-US border at Matamoros, an area still reeling from June's Tropical Storm Alberto.

Local official Velazquez reported that schools and hotels are being used as temporary shelters, but evacuation efforts in vulnerable areas like Punta Allen and Mahahual have seen limited success. Beryl has already left its mark through the Caribbean, devastating homes in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, causing chaos in Barbados' fishing community, and leaving Jamaica with damaged roofs and widespread power outages.

Officials reported three fatalities in Grenada and Carriacou, one in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and three more in northern Venezuela, where four individuals are still missing. Meanwhile, in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Aletta was spotted approximately 245 miles (395 kilometers) west of Manzanillo, boasting maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph). The storm is predicted to veer away from land and dissipate by the weekend.