Beryl slammed into Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Friday as a hurricane before weakening into a tropical storm, bringing whipping rains and flooding as it continues its destructive run across the Caribbean where it killed at least 11 people, according to reports.
Beryl hit with winds howling as much as 70 mph near the coastal resort town of Tulum and weakened as it moved across the peninsula.
But the National Hurricane Center warned that it will regain its intensity and reform into a hurricane when it passes over the warmer waters of the Gulf of Mexico, threatening northeast Mexico and Texas by Sunday or early Monday.
Beryl, the first hurricane of this season and the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, crashed into the Windward Islands of Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines earlier this week and then moved on to the Cayman Islands and Jamaica before lashing Mexico with its ferocity.
Authorities moved tourists and residents from low-lying areas of Tulum, which in some places is just a few feet above sea level, before Beryl made landfall, the Associated Press reported.
But thousands of people remained to ride out the storm.
More than 3,000 tourists were evacuated from Isla Mujeres, a tourist spot near Cancun, Reuters reported. And around 100 flights were canceled at Cancun's main airport.
