La Pesca, Mexico – Hurricane Emily swirled across the Gulf of Mexico today and took aim once again at the Mexican coastline, forcing thousands in northeastern Mexico and southern Texas to seek higher ground.
The hurricane’s winds and rains were expected to begin lashing land later today, and the eye was likely to come ashore near this small fishing village popular with Mexican and U.S. tourists.
Residents rushed to nail plywood boards over windows and doors, while Mexican army trucks roamed the streets collecting evacuees laden with suitcases and rolled-up blankets.
The town was among at least 20 low-lying, seaside Mexican communities being emptied of residents before the storm, which was expected to hit a sparsely populated stretch of coastline just south of the Texas border.
A hurricane warning was issued from La Cruz, Mexico, north to Port Mansfield, Texas.
In southern Texas, campers emptied beachfront parks on South Padre Island, residents piled sandbags to hold back possible floodwaters and schools were turned into shelters.
Some 240 kilometers (150 miles) south, in La Pesca, residents were taken to a naval base on a relatively high point on the edge of town, where excited children raced giddily about, shrieking and laughing as their parents settled in.
“Now that there is help, we must accept it,” said Marta Neri, a 30-year-old who arrived with her three small children.
She said she hadn’t gone farther inland because she couldn’t afford to pay a bus or taxi.
The storm was gathering strength as it barreled toward the coast, a day after ripping roofs off resort hotels and stranding thousands of tourists all along the famous Mayan Riviera, which includes the resort of Cancun.
Emily hit the Yucatan Peninsula on Monday as a fierce Category 4 storm with 135 mph (217 kph) winds, causing millions of dollars in damage. Hundreds of local residents were left homeless, but no deaths or major injuries were reported.
The storm weakened during the rampage but once back out to sea it began to strengthen again, packing sustained winds of 95 mph (155 kph) today afternoon. It was located 185 miles (300 kilometers) east of La Pesca, and was heading northwest at 14 mph (22 kph.) Mexico’s state-run oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, evacuated 15,000 oil workers from rigs in the storm’s path and halted production in the Gulf as the storm swept north of the company’s main oil fields. It was unclear if the storm had caused any damage.
As the storm approached, an increasingly steady wind blew across La Pesca and breakers skittered toward the abandoned beach.
Residents boarded up windows and tied down their homes’ tin roofs.
Felipe Portillo, a 67-year-old fisherman, helped his sons haul five small, fiberglass fishing boats off the beach and up to the roadside, away from the water. Then they planned to head to a shelter inland.
“Overconfidence kills men,” Portillo said. “Running is your best defense.” Also among those leaving was Donald Laray, a 60-year-old Texan who moved to Mexico 10 years ago. He was using a pickup truck to haul a recreational vehicle out of a beachfront lot where he was planning to build a hotel.
“It’s been just about two days without sleep,” he said, referring to rushed preparations for the storm.
Meanwhile in the Pacific, Tropical Storm Eugene swirled about 300 miles (450 kilometers) south of the peninsula city of Cabo San Lucas. Eugene had maximum sustained winds near 60 mph (95 kmh), with higher gusts, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.
Although some strengthening was possible, the storm was expected to weaken tonight as it moved over cooler waters, the center said.
