- Officials move 2,300 people from Holbox and tourists evacuate Cancun
- NASA cuts short undersea laboratory mission near Key Largo, Florida
- Rina downgraded from hurricane to tropical storm off Mexico coast
Last updated at 10:39 PM on 27th October 2011
Thousands of tourists are today fleeing Mexico's holiday resorts as hundreds of residents follow them away from low-lying areas ahead of Tropical Storm Rina’s approach up the Caribbean coast.
Civil protection officials moved some 2,300 people from Holbox, an island where the Caribbean meets the Gulf of Mexico, and the government closed the archaeological sites that dot the coast.
Lines snaked from ticket counters in Cancun's crowded airport on Wednesday as airliners heading to Canada and Europe waited in the rain. But the hurricane was today downgraded to a tropical storm.
Storm coming: A tourist walks past palm trees swaying in winds caused by the proximity
of the Rina hurricane off the coast of Quintana Roo in Cancun's hotel zone
Big waves: A tourist carries her surfing board while a storm approaches in Cancun,
Quintana Roo state, Mexico, as it churned toward Cancun and other international
tourist resorts
Going back: Passengers wait to check in at Cancun international airport, as they
prepare to return home before the arrival of Tropical Storm Rina, in Cancun,
Quintana Roo state, Mexico
Many travellers said they were already scheduled to leave on Wednesday. But Janet Gallo, 41, of New York City, decided to cut short her five-day trip to the town of Playa del Carmen.
‘At the hotel, they told us they would make a decision whether to evacuate later today, but we didn't want to wait,' she said. 'We would rather be home when it hits.'
Space agency NASA cut short an undersea laboratory mission near Key Largo, Florida, bringing the crew back to land.
Ports closed to navigation for recreational, fishing and small boats in the state of Quintana Roo, home to Cancun, and neighbouring Yucatan state.
The island of Cozumel was closed to larger vessels, including the ferry that connects the island and Playa del Carmen.
Ominous: A couple stand next to a boat in Playa del Carmen beach, Quintana Roo
State, Mexico, as they prepare for the approach of Tropical Storm Rina
Windy day: A tourist walks among palm trees on a beach in Playa del Carmen on
Thursday
Deserted: Beach beds are tied up on the beach at a hotel for safekeeping in Playa del
Carmen on Thursday
Rina was forecast to remain a hurricane as it swept along Mexico's most popular tourist destinations of Cancun, Cozumel and the Riviera Maya. But it was downgraded to a tropical storm on Thursday.
Rina's maximum sustained winds were near 75mph early on Thursday, down from 110mph on Wednesday. It was about 115 miles south of the island of Cozumel, moving northwest at 6mph.
'At the hotel, they told us they would make a decision whether to evacuate later today, but we didn't want to wait. We would rather be home when it hits'
Janet Gallo, Cancun tourist
But the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Rina's maximum sustained winds were down to 70mph by Thursday lunchtime.
About 275 people living in the fishing town of Punta Allen, south of Tulum, were moved to emergency shelters and a smaller group was evacuated from the atoll of Banco Chinchorro.
Luh McDevitt, 56, originally of Cincinnati, Ohio - but now a furniture and interior designer in Cozumel - said her family was fitting hurricane shutters to the house and securing furniture.
‘I am not really scared. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 was a Category 5. The worst part of the hurricane is after. We didn't have electricity in our house for three weeks.’
From above: This satellite image taken on Thursday shows Hurricane Rina near the
east coast of Mexico, before it was downgraded to a Tropical Storm
Boarded up: Workers cover the windows of a building in preparation for the arrival of
Tropical Storm Rina, in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo state, Mexico
Still there: Tourists walk past sandbags used to protect against erosion at a beach in
Playa del Carmen
Protection: Tourists walk past workers boarding up store windows ahead of Tropical
Storm Rina in Cancun
Mexico's government said it was sending nearly 2,400 electrical workers plus cranes, vehicles and generators to repair and maintain services as quickly as possible after the storm.
'I am not really scared. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 was a Category 5. The worst part of the hurricane is after. We didn't have electricity in our house for three weeks'
Luh McDevitt, Cozumel resident
Jorge Arturo Cruz, spokesman for Quintana Roo's education department, said schools were ordered to be closed in communities along the coast and on Cozumel in anticipation of the storm.
The coastal area around Tulum is dotted with Mayan ruins and farther north is Playa del Carmen, another popular spot for international tourists and the departure point for ferries serving Cozumel.
State officials said there had been about 83,000 tourists there, with about 28,000 in Cancun and 45,000 more on the stretch of coast south of Cancun that includes Tulum and Playa de Carmen.
State Tourism Director Juan Carlos Gonzalez Hernandez estimated 10,000 tourists had left by Wednesday night. There were only about 1,719 tourists on Cozumel, and many of them had left.
Having fun: A boy feeds seagulls on a beach in Playa del Carmen on Thursday ahead
of the storm's approach
Good time: A man throws his son in the air, at a beach in Playa del Carmen on
Thursday
Sprint: A woman runs in Playa del Carmen beach, Quintana Roo State, Mexico,
earlier this week
Graphic: This map shows the possible path of Rina up the side of Mexican on its
Caribbean coast
At least eight cruise ships were changing itineraries away from the storm's path, said a Carnival Cruise Lines spokesman.
'There is great uncertainty as to where Rina will be located by the weekend'
U.S. National Hurricane Center
The area was badly damaged by Hurricane Wilma in 2005, when Cancun's white-sand beaches were largely washed away. Insurance officials estimated total damage at $3billion.
A hurricane warning was in effect for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from north of Punta Gruesa to Cancun.
The projected track showed Rina curving east toward Cuba and the Straits of Florida after crossing the eastern tip of Yucatan.
But the U.S. National Hurricane Center cautioned: ‘There is great uncertainty as to where Rina will be located by the weekend.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2054351/Hurricane-Rina-downgraded-tropical-storm-tourists-flee-Mexican-holiday-resorts.html#ixzz1c36Y9o5c
