Storm Ida heads for Yucatan

2009-11-08 16:16

Cancun - Ida has developed into a hurricane for a second time as it roars over the Caribbean on a path that could take it between Cuba and Mexico's resort-studded Yucatan Peninsula before heading for the southern United States.

Tour operators and fishermen along Mexico's Caribbean coast, including Cancun, pulled their boats out of the water on Saturday in anticipation of rains and winds from Ida's outer bands.

But the hurricane appeared unlikely to make direct hits on Sunday on either Mexico or Cuba. Its forecast track passes over the Yucatan Channel that separates the countries.

Cancun's beaches were empty on Saturday as rain began pelting down, but tourists walked the streets under umbrellas or improvised ponchos. Most appeared unconcerned.

"We're not too worried. I'll get some good pictures," said Steve Rydgren, a 30-year-old photographer from Seattle, as he arrived in Cancun for a one-year anniversary vacation with his 29-year-old wife, Stacy.

The US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said Ida's winds had picked up to 150km/h, making it a Category 1 hurricane.

Ida had plowed into Nicaragua's Atlantic coast on Thursday as a Category 1 hurricane, laying waste to 500 homes and damaging bridges, power lines, roads and public buildings, but then weakened into a tropical storm.

Could strengthen

The hurricane centre forecast that Ida could strengthen to Category 2 later on Sunday, then weaken again over the Gulf of Mexico to tropical storm strength and possibly brush the US Gulf Coast next week.

Realtor Beth Conway, 41, from Sacramento, California, said she was happy just to be in Cancun.

"We don't really care if it's rainy or sunny," Conway said as she gathered her luggage at the Cancun airport. "We were just hoping they weren't going to cancel our flight."

Mexico issued a hurricane warning for parts of the Yucatan Peninsula, from Playa del Carmen to Cabo Catoche, including Cancun and the nearby island of Cozumel. That means hurricane conditions are expected within 24 hours.

Tropical-storm warnings remain in effect for the Yucatan Peninsula from Punta Allen northward to San Felipe, and western Cuba and Grand Cayman Island.

Authorities launched a reporting system used to locate tourists and plan potential evacuations or shelters. Quintana Roo state Tourism Director Sara Latife Ruiz said about 36 000 foreign and Mexican tourists were staying in Cancun.

"We can locate them and, if necessary, take them to some temporary shelter," said Latife Ruiz. "Right now, no flights have been cancelled... and there has been no evacuation of tourists."

Early on Sunday, Ida was centred about 115km east-northeast of Cozumel and moving north west at 19km/h.

Juan Granados, assistant director of civil defence, said seven storm shelters were being prepared on Cozumel, five on Isla Mujeres and seven on Holbox, an island north of the peninsula. State wide, dozens more were being readied for potential use.

Granados said authorities have suspended fishing along part of the coast and told tour operators who offer reef snorkeling and diving excursions to stay in port.

Some wind and rain

"We'll get some wind and rain, but that's about it," said James Watts, 34, part of a family from British Columbia, Canada, that runs The Summer Place Inn and a real estate firm on Cozumel. Employees at the inn weren't taping up or boarding over windows, but Watts said small boats would be pulled ashore.

Popular Mayan sites such as the seaside ruins of Tulum were to remain open, but employees worked to clean up debris that could become a hazard in high winds, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History said in a statement.

John Cangialosi, a specialist at the Hurricane Centre, said that as Ida heads north across the Gulf of Mexico, it is expected to meet a south-moving cold front. He said this makes longer-term forecasts more difficult.

Regardless of how the cold front affects the tropical system, Cangialosi said residents on the north Gulf Coast can expect lots of wind and heavy rain.

Cuba's national Meteorological Centre said it did not expect any direct impact from the storm, but noted it could cause heavy rains in the western province of Pinar del Rio.

- AP