Hurricane Delta ‘extremely dangerous’

Storm heading toward Mexico; warning issued

Hurricane Delta intensified into a Category 4 storm Tuesday and was expected to remain “extremely dangerous” as it reaches Mexico by early Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The storm, the ninth named hurricane of the season, was about 215 miles east-southeast of Cozumel, Mexico, the center said. As of Tuesday afternoon, Delta had maximum sustained winds of 145 mph with higher gusts.

The government of Mexico had issued a hurricane warning from Tulum to Dzilam, the center said, and tropical storm warnings were in effect for a portion of western Cuba, Isle of Youth, Punta Herrero to Tulum, and Dzilam to Progreso. Government officials ordered nonessential businesses to close as emergency crews helped evacuate inhabitants from low-lying coastal areas to storm shelters.

“It’s ideal conditions for rapid intensification — warm water temperatures, negligible wind chill,” said Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist and spokesman for the National Hurricane Center. “This has turned into a very dangerous, very serious hurricane.”

The brunt of the storm will hit the Yucatán Peninsula first, he said.

Residents across the region scrambled on Tuesday to prepare for the storm’s arrival, stocking up on days’ worth of groceries, hardware materials and gasoline, and pulling boats from the water and moving them to higher ground.

Scores of hotels along the Caribbean coast, including popular tourist destinations like Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, were moving their guests to shelters.

“The most important thing is to take care of everyone’s life so that we don’t lose anybody,” said Carlos Joaquín, governor of the state of Quintana Roo, where the hurricane was expected to make landfall Wednesday.

The impact with the peninsula will likely cause the storm to weaken, possibly to a Category 3 storm, Feltgen said. But the conditions are ideal for it to strengthen back to a Category 4 as it approaches the United States as a “major hurricane.”

Delta is expected to approach the northern Gulf Coast later this week. While the exact track of the storm remains uncertain, there is a risk of storm surge, wind and rainfall along the coast from Louisiana to the western portions of the Florida Panhandle beginning Thursday night or Friday.