Boone Co. commissioner gives account of Hurricane Beryl ahead of U.S. landfall

Hurricane Beryl is set to make landfall in the U.S. in the coming days, but Friday it hit Mexico.

A Boone County commissioner and his family are on vacation in Riviera Maya, which is about an hour and a half south of Cancun.

Boone County Commissioner Jesse Brewer told WCPO 9 Friday that he and his family are safe, but this wasn't the vacation they planned for.

He said they didn't know their vacation destination was in the path of Hurricane Beryl until they were checking into their hotel.

"Monday afternoon we got checked in and settled and we heard, hurricane coming this way and it was like, oh," he said.

By early Friday morning, Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Mexico. The hotel staff had prepared for this, and in the short time they had, so had the Brewers.

“Made a makeshift area in the bathroom, which is the safest area in there, made a little go bag, protect our documents and passports and things like that in case there was something — we had to go evacuate quickly or there was flooding," he said.

Thankfully as the hurricane passed, the Brewers were able to stay safe inside.

"The building that we’re in is a pretty solid building, pretty concrete, built like a shelter so we were pretty safe in here, but going outside to venture out a little bit, I’ve never seen trees bend like that and blow like that, the sound that they made," Brewer said.

He said power stayed on the whole time so they made the best of hunkering down in their room.

“Watched some movies and made it like a snow day in July," Brewer said.

Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Mexico as a Category 2 storm, but before that it was marked as a historic hurricane.

“It became a hurricane, a major hurricane and then a Category 5 earlier than any hurricane that we’ve ever dealt with, especially in the Atlantic," said WCPO 9 First Warning Meteorologist Cameron Hardin.

He said the warm waters in the Atlantic Ocean made this possible.

As those in Mexico clean up from the damage left by this historic hurricane, Brewer said he's grateful he and his family are okay.

“I’ve never been in a hurricane before and I don’t wanna go through another one ever again, but you know we fared very well here and were very fortunate," he said.

Before making landfall in Mexico, Hurricane Beryl hit Jamaica as a Category 4 storm, leaving widespread devastation. At least nine people have been killed.

While much weaker, Beryl is now headed towards Texas and meteorologists expect it to strengthen again before making landfall.

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