Chantal buffets, drenches Yucatan
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The Miami Herald
August 21, 2001
Chantal buffets, drenches Yucatan
BY MARTIN MERZER
Tropical Storm Chantal, reaching the mainland after a long ocean
voyage, struck Belize and Mexico's Yucatan peninsula Monday night with
near-hurricane force wind and up to 12 inches of rain.
Cruise ships altered itineraries. Airlines canceled flights. Fishermen
returned to port, residents moved into shelters and tourists mapped
alternate plans.
``If it's stormy tomorrow, they will do the obligatory shopping
and I'll find something stronger to drink than coffee,'' Bob Brunner,
vacationing in Cancún, said of his wife and daughter.
FUTURE COURSE
Forecasters expected Chantal to survive its encounter with land
and redevelop in the Gulf of Mexico, but remain on a course that would
spare Florida and the rest of the United States.
Long-term forecasts carried the storm across the Bay of Campeche
and back into Mexico near the Gulf Coast town of Tuxpan, possibly as a
hurricane.
``Only a modest increase in wind speeds could result in sustained
winds near hurricane force,'' said forecaster Richard Pasch of the National
Hurricane Center, based on the Florida International University campus
in West Miami-Dade.
The center of the storm made landfall at 11 p.m. EDT at Chetumal,
Mexico, a port city of about 100,000 people near the border with Belize.
Forecasters warned, however, that the strongest wind -- around
70 mph, just four mph below hurricane strength -- and most of the rain
trailed the center and would
pummel the region this morning.
They predicted eight to 12 inches of rain, locally heavier amounts
in mountainous areas and storm surge flooding of up to three feet.
Watches and warnings covered the entire coast of Belize, the east
coast of the Yucatan and much of Mexico's Gulf Coast.
In the Mexican resort city of Cancún, palm trees swayed
earlier Monday as tourists huddled in hotel lobbies. It wasn't until Monday
morning that many hotel managers told guests about the storm. Still, few
signs emerged that people were overly concerned.
``Bring it on! Bring it on!'' said Chris Watkins of Atlanta.
And on it came.
EVACUATIONS
Civil defense authorities in the state of Quintano Roo, which
includes Chetumal and Cancún, evacuated fishermen from nearby coral
reefs and prepared more than 1,000 hurricane shelters for 200,000 people.
According to local media reports, 250 flights to or from the Yucatan
were canceled and several cruise ships changed ports to avoid the storm.
Meanwhile, forecasters said another storm that appeared to be
brewing in the Atlantic was losing steam about 650 miles east of the Caribbean
islands.
``Development, if any, will be slow to occur,'' said hurricane
specialist James Franklin.
This report was supplemented with Herald wire services.
© 2001 The Miami Herald