Hurricane Beryl Strikes Mexican Resort Town Tulum As Category 2 Hurricane As Texas Prepares for the Weekend

Hurricane Beryl unleashed its power on the Yucatan Peninsula, striking near the Mexican resort town of Tulum as a Category 2 hurricane.

The forecast suggests that the hurricane is expected to subsequently move towards northeastern Mexico and southern Texas over the weekend, Knewz.com has learned.

After causing devastation in Jamaica and other Caribbean islands over the week, Hurricane Beryl struck the Mexican resort town with great intensity on Friday, July 5.

Notably, much of the area around the town of Tulum is only a few feet above sea level, prompting evacuation efforts by Mexican authorities to move tourists and residents out of low-lying areas before the hurricane hit.

However, thousands of residents and tourists decided to stay in the area and ride out the intense storm, with some of them preparing in advance after seeing the havoc the hurricane wreaked in the Caribbean.

Among them was 37-year-old Lucía Nagera Balcaza, who stocked up on food and stayed holed up in her home until the storm passed.

"Thank god, we woke up this morning and everything was all right... The streets are a disaster, but we’re out here cleaning up," Balcaza said in a statement to The Associated Press. The news service was the first to report the effects of the hurricane at Tulum.

Lara Marsters, a 54-year-old therapist from Boise, Idaho , was one of the tourists visiting Tulum who took precautionary measures to withstand the effects of the hurricane.

"We’re going to hunker down and stay safe," she told The Associated Press, adding that she had already filled up empty water bottles from the tap, as access to clean drinking water can become one of the main concerns during a natural calamity such as this.

Upon landfall, Hurricane Beryl knocked out power in Tulum, with army brigades cleaning out fallen trees and power lines from the streets of the Mexican resort town.

It has been reported by The Associated Press that intense winds set off car alarms all across the town as storm and rain continued to pound Tulum and the neighboring regions until Friday morning.

According to Mexican authorities, the maximum speed attained by Hurricane Beryl was recorded at 70 miles per hour. Laura Velázquez, national coordinator of Mexican Civil Protection, reported that nearly half of the population of the Mexican seaside town is still without electricity.

However, there have been no reports of deaths or injuries after the hurricane yet.

The Associated Press reported that authorities had already set up shelters in schools and hotels before Hurricane Beryl struck Mexico. As winds began to intensify at the beaches of Tulum, officials started warning people to leave and began evacuating beachside hotels.

With forecasts suggesting that the hurricane might make a move toward Texas and the Gulf of Mexico soon, some counties of the Lone Star State have already begun taking preemptive action.

Chief of State Emergency Operations Nim Kidd told The Associated Press that oil companies have started evacuating employees from oil rigs along the coast. Dan Patrick, the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, has already issued a pre-emptive disaster declaration for 39 counties.

Officials in the coastal city of Corpus Christi, Texas, have already depleted their reserve of sandbags after distributing 10,000 of them in two hours on Friday, July 5. Furthermore, some Texas counties in low-lying areas have already issued voluntary evacuation orders ahead of landfall.

It seems the devastation caused by Hurricane Beryl in the Caribbean Islands has struck terror in the hearts of the people living in areas on the path of the storm . Not to mention Southern Texas was hit by tropical storm "Alberto" mere weeks ago.

The Associated Press was the first to report this story.