Tropical Storm Rina brushed between Mexico’s Caribbean coast and the island of Cozumel on Thursday, lashing the area with wind and rain, as the Mexican Navy moved to forcibly evacuate some residents who refused to leave a low-lying island well north of the storm.
Playa de Carmen, a resort town across from Cozumel, was left without electricity and streets were largely empty as Rina swept the coast just 30km west of Cozumel with winds of about 95kph.
The storm was moving north at about 11kph and was expected to move inland and start weakening by early yesterday.
Many tourists had already abandoned resorts around Cancun and the Riviera Maya ahead of what once threatened to be a Category 3 hurricane.
The Mexican Navy took mandatory evacuation orders so seriously that it sent boats to Holbox Island, about 160km north of where the storm was expected to hit, to haul out by force about 80 residents who had refused to leave and hidden on the island during an earlier evacuation of about 2,300 people.
At least eight cruise ships changed itineraries away from the storm’s path.
Lines snaked from ticket counters in Cancun’s crowded airport on Wednesday as jumbo airliners heading to Canada and Europe waited in pouring rain.
State Tourism Director Juan Carlos Gonzalez Hernandez estimated that 10,000 tourists had left by Wednesday night.
NASA cut short an undersea mission near Key Largo, Florida, bringing the crew back to land.
Schools were closed in communities along the coast and on Cozumel in anticipation of the storm.
Ports also closed to navigation for recreational, fishing and small boats in the state of Quintana Roo, home to Cancun, and neighboring Yucatan State, while the island of Cozumel was closed to larger vessels, including the ferry that connects the island and Playa del Carmen.
However, some decided to ride out the weakened Rina. Early on Thursday in Playa del Carmen, tourists and residents strolled along the promenade and the beach under cloudy but not-yet-rainy weather. At the beach, lifeguards put out red flags warning people not to swim.
“We would prefer to lie on the beach and get in the ocean, but right now all we can do is walk around and go shopping,” said Vera Kohler, a 27-year-old tourist from Frankfurt, Germany, who arrived on Wednesday and planned to stay in the area until tomorrow.
Domenico Cianni, a retired restaurateur from Vancouver, Canada, said he also prepared for a hurricane by buying extra food and beer and putting shutters on the windows of his rental home. After hearing Rina had been downgraded to a tropical storm he decided to join tourists on Playa del Carmen’s pier.
“We were curious about what’s happening. We wanted to be part of the action,” Cianni said.
A tropical storm warning was in effect for the Caribbean coast from Punta Allen to San Felipe.
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.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese