Hurricane Beryl live blog: Tulum hit by category 2 storm, now a category 1

Hurricane Beryl roared ashore on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula near the resort town of Tulum as a Category 2 storm early Friday, whipping trees and knocking out power after leaving a trail of destruction that killed at least 11 people across the Caribbean.

Beryl was expected to rapidly weaken to a tropical storm as it crosses over the peninsula before reemerging into the Gulf of Mexico and likely regaining hurricane strength, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Once in the warm waters of the Gulf, Beryl is forecast to head toward northern Mexico near the Texas border, an area soaked by Tropical Storm Alberto just a couple of weeks ago.

Beryl spread destruction in Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbados this week after becoming the earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic. Three people have been reported dead in Grenada, three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica, officials said.

After landfall in Mexico, Beryl's maximum wind speeds dropped but Tulum will continue to see "large and destructive waves," the hurricane center said. The area faces heavy rainfall and potential flooding in the coming hours, according to forecasts from Mexico's National Water Commission.

Mexican authorities had moved some tourists and residents out of low-lying areas around the Yucatan Peninsula before landfall, but tens of thousands remained to tough out the strong winds and expected storm surge. Much of the area around Tulum is just a few yards (meters) above sea level.

As the storm barrels toward Jamaica, people are on high alert, including a New Jersey family on vacation, who were hoping to make it off the island before the storm arrives.

The Simon family spent six days in Montego Bay. For them, this trip was a long-awaited getaway and college graduation celebration.

"It's actually beautiful. It's beautiful," said Brett Savage-Simon from Bloomfield, New Jersey.

But the tropical beauty captured in some of their pictures will soon be replaced with storm-force winds and torrential rain.

Beryl, the first hurricane of the season, has already left a deadly trail of devastation in several Caribbean islands including Grenada, Barbados, and St. Lucia. Now it's roaring towards Jamaica.

"I am encouraging all Jamaicans to take the hurricane as a serious threat," said Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness. "It is, however, not a time for panic. It is a time for us to be very strategic and calculated in our approach."

Darla Miles has the details on a NJ family that is stuck in Jamaica as Hurricane Beryl approaches.

In Kingston on Tuesday, Jamaican citizens took heed to the serious warning, locking down as much as they could before the storm makes landfall.

"It developed so quick, from a tropical impression, so fast," said Clive Davis, a local fisherman in Kingston. "It's the first time this developed in June, July. Got me taking this serious."

Unfortunately, the resort guests in Montego Bay and the Simon family, who were hoping to get out early, may be out of luck.

"We hope to get out of here before it hits and we hope the other people are OK, but when you hear there's a Category 5, and it could be coming our way, but like I told you, there's no sign of it now. So, when it gets here, we'll be ready," said Savage-Simon.

As of Tuesday evening, the Simon family said their scheduled flight back to New Jersey has already been canceled.

Hurricane Beryl was roaring toward Jamaica on Wednesday, with islanders scrambling to make preparations after the powerful Category 4 storm earlier killed at least six people and caused significant damage in the southeast Caribbean.

In Kingston, people boarded up windows, fishermen pulled their boats out of the water before sitting around a table to play dominoes beside a bay, and workers dismantled roadside advertising boards to protect them from the expected lashing winds to come.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. Beryl was forecast to weaken slightly over the next day or two, but still be at or near major-hurricane strength when it passes near or over Jamaica on Wednesday, near the Cayman Islands on Thursday and into Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

A hurricane watch was in effect for Haiti's southern coast and the Yucatan's east coast. Belize issued a tropical storm watch stretching south from its border with Mexico to Belize City.

Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph is checking in on X from Jamaica as the "potentially catastrophic" Hurricane Beryl moves across the eastern Caribbean Sea.

"From the looks of the sky, it looks like Beryl is going to be here much sooner than the news keeps saying," Ralph reported. "I just wanted to say to everybody, please, stay inside. There's a curfew starting at 6 AM tomorrow night- tomorrow morning. Stay off the road in Kingston. I hope you put oil in your lamp and are taking extra care."

She recalled Hurricane Gilbert, which hit the Caribbean in September 1988, wreaking havoc for nearly nine days.

"We remember that Gilbert was a three and Beryl is a four," she said.

The actress ended the video with a bid goodnight. An hour later, Ralph updated her X, saying she couldn't sleep, but would binge TV to calm her nerves.