Hurricane Delta hit Mexico. Tourists evacuated and airlines reschedule flights

Tourists vacationing on the Yucatan Peninsula almost witnessed a terrible natural disaster, but were rushed to state shelters before the storm. On Wednesday, October 7, near 02:00 a.m., the elements reached the famous resort of Cancun. At the time of the strike, there were almost 41,000 tourists here and in nearby Playa del Carmen. It is lucky that due to the pandemic of coronavirus holidaymakers were much less than in previous seasons. And about 35,000 people managed to get out of the coast. Local evacuation systems were used in some resort areas.

Hurricane Delta is considered the most powerful, among the recorded in the last 1.5 decades. It is an incessant wind stream with a speed of up to 233 km/h. Forecasters did not exclude the risk of further strengthening of the wind and the transition of the disaster to the highest 5th category, carrying serious destruction and flooding of coastal areas of the state.

For this reason, the government in advance evacuated tourists from all hotels located near the sea. Many of the establishments fall into the category of 5 stars. The next day the waves were forecast to reach 3.5 m and precipitation over 150 mm.

The local population is in h/s mode. Most airlines, guided by the policy of cancellation of flights due to adverse weather conditions, allowed tourists to postpone flights without penalty. Dates are currently available until October 12. This means that the situation is expected to improve and return tourists to the coast as early as next week.

Hurricane Delta in October 2020 was the sixth in a row in the Cancun area in this century. Of the previous severe destruction brought Hurricane Gilbert 1988 and Wilma in 2005, gusts of up to 209 km/h. Total for the U.S. for the season there were ten storms of this magnitude, with the assigned name. This is a record number of natural disasters in such a period of time.

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