Hurricane Beryl makes landfall in Mexico

CANCUN, Mexico: Hurricane Beryl slammed into Mexico´s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday near the resort town of Tulum with fierce winds, US forecasters said.

The National Hurricane Centre said the storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 100 mph making it a Category 2 hurricane, weaker than earlier in the week as Beryl hit islands in the Caribbean.

Mexico´s national water commission Conagua reported similar wind speeds, with even stronger gusts. “Please stay home,” the governor of Quintana Roo state, Mara Lezama, said in a video released overnight. The storm was expected to bring a dangerous sea surge from the Caribbean and big waves, the NHC added.

Beryl has left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean and the coast of Venezuela, killing at least seven people. It was the first hurricane since NHC records began to reach the Category 4 level in June and the earliest to hit the highest Category 5 in July.