Hurricane lashes Mexico’s popular Riviera Maya resorts
Hurricane Emily ripped roofs off luxury hotels along Mexico’s Mayan Riviera, stranded thousands of tourists and left hundreds of local residents homeless today, forcing many to remain in crowded, leaky shelters.
Residents of Yucatan Peninsula resorts, including Playa del Carmen and Tulum, began wading through knee-deep flood waters to assess damage under a light drizzle, as the storm barreled west into the Gulf of Mexico.
There were no immediate reports of death or serious injuries on the peninsula, but Emily was expected to regain strength and threaten Mexican oil rigs before slamming into northeast The worst damage on the Yucatan Peninsula was in Puerto Aventuras, where the storm’s eye came ashore some 60 miles south of the resort of Cancun and in Tulum, a collection of thatched hut hotels along a secluded strip of beach that is popular with backpackers.
Sitting in the roofless, rain-soaked lobby of the Copacabana Hotel near Puerto Aventuras, Samuel Norrod, of Livingston, Tenn., waited to hear if his travel agent could get flights home for him, his wife and his 13-year-old granddaughter.
More: seattletimes.nwsource.com
UPDATE 5-Hurricane Wilma lashes Mexico's "Riviera"
Hurricane Wilma's ferocious winds battered Mexico's famed Caribbean beach resorts on Friday, knocking over trees and signposts and trapping thousands of nervous tourists in cramped shelters.
Powerful waves swallowed up white sand beaches in the popular resort of Cancun and howling winds tore across the island of Cozumel, a favorite of scuba divers and cruise ship passengers.
All along the "Maya Riviera", sturdy tropical trees danced in the wild wind and others lay toppled in empty and flooded streets. Electricity was cut and signposts were sent spinning through the air.
"I'm okay, I'm okay -- don't worry," Italian
UPDATE 4-Hurricane Wilma lashes Mexico's beach resorts
Hurricane Wilma's fierce winds and rain battered Mexico's famed Caribbean beach resorts on Friday, knocking over trees and trapping thousands of nervous tourists inside cramped shelters.
Powerful waves swallowed up white sand beaches in the popular resort of Cancun and electricity was cut all along Mexico's "Maya Riviera" and on the island of Cozumel, a favorite of scuba divers and cruise ship passengers.
Sturdy tropical trees danced in howling winds and others lay toppled in empty and flooded streets in the resort of Playa del Carmen, just south of Cancun. Snapped electricity cables dangled above the
Hurricane bashes Mexico resorts, heads for US border
Hurricane Emily slammed into the Yucatan Peninsula on Monday, smashing hotels and homes in the main resort areas and halting all of Mexico's oil exports before heading back to sea for a new strike toward the U.S. border.
Tens of thousands of locals and tourists along the popular "Maya Riviera" coastline of white beaches and blue-green seas rode out winds of 135 mph (215 kph) and torrential rain in makeshift shelters.
Several people died in Mexico in incidents indirectly caused by the powerful storm, which killed at least four in Jamaica.
Emergency workers in Tamaulipas state
Cancún and Mexico’s Maya Riviera resurrected
Cancún, Mexico’s flagship tourist destination is steaming back.
A number of its popular resort hotels, restaurants, bars, shops, and area attractions are in fact already back in business and receiving guests. And rapid pace work continues on other visitor sites and services – all damaged by Hurricane Wilma and the devastation it left along the Caribbean coast of Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula last October.
Going beyond the range of Wilma, regional repair, restoration and aid work is also taking place in areas where Hurricane Stan caused damage. Stan struck before Wilma, in early October, and while
Mexico resorts getting back in the swim
Tourism officials in the hurricane-battered Mexican state of Quintana Roo hope to have 80 percent of the accommodations and amenities in the affected Caribbean coast resorts fully operational by February.
The Yucatan Peninsula state, home to tourism magnets Cancun, Cozumel and the Riviera Maya, accounts for about 36 percent of Mexico's nearly $11 billion tourism industry, according to Quintana Roo tourism secretary Gabriela Rodriguez.
Hurricane Wilma hit Cancun the hardest in late October, closing most of its hotel rooms. Between 8,000 and 10,000 of the city's approximately 25,000 hotel rooms are now open, and officials expect
Mexicos Asur wants new airport south of Cancun
Mexican airport operator Asur has asked for a permit to build and operate a new airport in the Mayan Riviera, a popular area of spectacular Caribbean beaches south of the huge resort of Cancun.
Asur (ASURB.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) (ASR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) operates nine airports in southern Mexico, including one in Cancun and another on the island of Cozumel just off Mexicos Caribbean coast.
The Mayan Riviera includes the fast-growing resorts of Playa del Carmen and Tulum, popular among European and American tourists.
More : today.reuters.com
Tourists flee huge Hurricane Wilma in Mexico
Roaring waves pounded Mexican beach resorts on Thursday and thousands of tourists were ready to be evacuated as powerful Hurricane Wilma plowed through the Caribbean on its way to Florida.
Cuba evacuated 100,000 people and residents of southern Florida stocked up on drinking water and gas to prepare for Wilma, which spun off the coasts of Mexico and Belize packing winds of around 145 mph (230 kph).
Described by forecasters as extremely dangerous, Wilma killed 10 people in mudslides in Haiti earlier in the week.
Expensive beachfront hotels all along Mexico's "Maya Riviera" coast emptied
UPDATE 4-Tourists flee huge Hurricane Wilma in Mexico
Roaring waves pounded Mexican beach resorts on Thursday and thousands of tourists were ready to be evacuated as powerful Hurricane Wilma ploughed through the Caribbean on its way to Florida.
Cuba evacuated 100,000 people and residents of southern Florida stocked up on drinking water and gas to prepare for Wilma, which spun off the coasts of Mexico and Belize packing winds of around 145 mph (230 kph).
Described by forecasters as extremely dangerous, Wilma killed 10 people in mudslides in Haiti earlier in the week.
Expensive beachfront hotels all along Mexico's "Maya Riviera" coast emptied of
Hurricane reshapes Mexico's resort scene
The most frazzled, flustered, frantic people in Cabo San Lucas these days may be the wedding planners.
Thousands of vacationers are flocking to Cabo and other western Mexican resorts to relax and say their "I do's."
That's because more than a month after Hurricane Wilma thrashed Cancun — the country's premier resort — and the rest of Mexico's eastern coast, that area is still recuperating. Most hotels and businesses along the 10-mile waterfront strip are closed, and much of the beach has been stripped of its white powder sand.
The effect of Hurricane Wilma, says Ruben Cota,
Hurricane Emily roars across Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, stranding tourists
Hurricane Emily stranded thousands of tourists along Mexico's luxurious Mayan Riviera and left hundreds of local residents homeless Monday, forcing many to remain in crowded, leaky shelters.
As residents of Yucatan Peninsula resorts including Playa del Carmen and Tulum began wading through knee-deep flood waters to assess damage under a light drizzle, the storm barreled out into the Gulf of Mexico.
There were no immediate reports of death or serious injuries on the peninsula.
Emily was expected to regain strength before slamming into Mexico's northeast coastline. Residents of small coastal fishing villages, in
