Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula braces as Hurricane Milton strengthens to Category 5 storm

Описание: (8 Oct 2024)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4524079

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Progreso, Mexico - 7 October 2024
1. Fishermen moving boats to protect them
2. Various of palm trees swaying in wind
3. Fishermen pulling boats from beach
4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Joaquin Jesús Díaz Mena, Governor of Yucatán State: ++STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT++
"The important thing is that we know that tonight is going to be a very long night for Yucatecans. The strong winds will begin to be felt at approximately nine or ten o'clock at night in the port of Celestún."
5. Woman and child looking at Poseidon statue
6. Various of people boarding up their properties

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Holbox, Mexico - 7 October 2024
7. Various of tourists and residents in line waiting to leave Holbox island
8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Marilú Macías, resident: ++STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT++
"My daughters have been living here for about six years. I come for months, then I leave again. But this time it was my turn to be here, and we decided it's better to go to someplace safer."
9. Wide of tourists and residents in line waiting to leave island
STORYLINE:
Milton rapidly strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, becoming a Category 5 storm on a path toward Florida.

Mexican officials organised buses to evacuate people from the low-lying Gulf coast coastal city of Progreso, on the Yucatan peninsula, after Mexico’s National Meteorological Service said Milton “may hit between Celestun and Progreso” late Monday or early Tuesday.

Celestún, on the western corner of the peninsula, is low-lying nature reserve home to tens of thousands of flamingos.

Progreso, to the east, is a shipping and cruise ship port with a population of about 40,000.

Yucatán state Gov. Joaquin Jesús Díaz Mena ordered the cancellation of all non-essential activities except grocery stores, hospitals, pharmacies, and gas stations starting around mid-day Monday.

Dozens of residents and tourists lined up with suitcases and other belongings Monday to catch an evacuation ferry off Holbox island, on the eastern tip of the Yucatan peninsula.

Holbox, popular for its shallow seascapes, may be one of the closest points that Hurricane Milton brushes before moving toward Florida.

The low-lying island tends to flood even with a light rain.

Off-and-on resident Marilú Macías was calm and smiling, but was afraid of what Milton could do to the island.

“We decided it’s better to go to someplace safer,” Macías said of herself and her daughters.

Milton looms in the Gulf less than two weeks after a catastrophic Hurricane Helene swamped the coastline and killed more than 230 people.

Hurricane Milton's sustained wind speeds increased to 180 mph (290 kph) Monday afternoon, the The U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The Category 5 storm, located 80 miles (125 kilometers) off the coast of Progreso, was moving east at 10 mph (17 kph).

According to the National Hurricane Center’s Live Hurricane Tracker, Milton will make landfall on the west coast of Florida on Wednesday evening.

It’s expected to be a Category 3 storm when it hits the shore and will barrel across the state through major cities like Tampa and Orlando overnight into Thursday.

AP video by Martín Zetina and Dan Christian Rojas

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