Hurricane Helene, which made landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula as a Category 1 hurricane, has moved away from the region and is now heading to Florida’s Gulf Coast. However, weather authorities predict that heavy rain may continue to fall in the Yucatán for the next two days.
In the past week, Mexico has seen two hurricanes on two of its coasts — John on the Pacific coast and Helene on the Atlantic coast.
#HuracanHelene #helene en #Cancun #mexico pic.twitter.com/gcX3Ratnan
— 🅼🅼🅰🆁🅸🅿🅾🆂🅰 🇵🇷 (@MMariposa31) September 26, 2024
A user on the social media platform X recorded Helene in Cancún as it bore down on the Yucatán Peninsula as a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday night.
Although the overall impact of Helene on the Yucatán Peninsula was mild, its passage left fallen trees, flooded streets, power outages and canceled flights in its wake.
Helene, the fifth cyclone of 2024’s Atlantic hurricane season, brought heavy rains to the state of Yucatán from Tuesday night through Wednesday morning. In the state capital of Mérida, authorities reported an accumulated rainfall of 42.93 millimeters. The state’s Civil Protection reported high waves, strong winds and heavy-to-torrential rain in several parts of the state.
Nowhere in Yucatán were there any reports of citizens being transferred to temporary shelters, but schools in eight municipalities were closed on Wednesday as a precaution.
In the adjoining state of Quintana Roo, Cancún bore the brunt of Helene, with authorities reporting stranded vehicles due to flooding in and around the downtown, including in Punta Cancún. Several thoroughfares, including Avenida Chichén Itzá, Avenida Bonampak and Avenida Donceles also saw flooding, and fallen trees were reported on Palenque, Chichén Itzá, Leona Vicario and Las Torres avenues.
Benito Juárez, the municipality where Cancún is located, was on red alert throughout Wednesday, as were the municipalities of Lazaro Cardenas, Cozumel, Isla Mujeres, and Puerto Morelos. Helen forced the shutdown of public transportation and taxi service, and most restaurants were closed. In Cancún’s hotel zone, guests were advised to shelter in place.
Helene also affected flights on the Yucatán Peninsula. According to the newspaper La Jornada Maya, Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeropuertos del Sureste (ASUR), owners of Cancún International Airport and Mérida International Airport, reported 97 canceled flights and 75 delayed ones.
On Wednesday, the Maya Train suspended its operations on its Quintana Roo routes, but by Thursday morning, authorities reported finding no damage on the train’s railway system and resumed operations with all routes functioning on their regular schedules.
Local media in Quintana Roo were reporting by Thursday morning that most regular activities had resumed, except for some schools that remained closed for repairs caused by Helene. However, the remnants of the storm remain: the National Meteorological Service has predicted heavy rains Thursday for all three states on the Yucatán Peninsula.
Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that Helene is heading towards the Florida Gulf Coast and is expected to bring potentially devastating storm surges, strong winds and heavy rains as it intensifies to at least a Category 3 hurricane.
With reports from La Jornada Maya, Imagen, Meteored and Por Esto.
At no point did hurricane force winds touch the peninsula. Check the NHC website for wind history. Tropical Storm force winds reached Cozumel, Cancun and the northeast corner of QRoo state.