Hurricane Grace to make landfall in Mexico as Henri eyes New England

Tropical storm Grace strengthened to a hurricane Wednesday and it is moving towards Mexico, reports USA Today. The second hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, it brought heavy rainfall and gusty winds to the Cayman Islands on Wednesday. Earthquake-stricken Haiti also witnessed rain due to the storm this week.

This comes after Tropical Depression Fred were still bringing rain across the eastern USA on Wednesday and Governor Roy Cooper declaring a state of emergency in North Carolina. According to the report, Tropical Storm Henri could also become a hurricane.

In North Carolina, at least 35 people are still missing, Haywood County Emergency Services Director Travis Donaldson said during a Wednesday press conference.

Also Read| Storm Fred spawns twisters and flooding across Florida, Georgia

Fred is expected to move across Pennsylvania and western New York, then New England as the system transitioned into a non-tropical low.

Meanwhile, Grace was expected to make landfall before dawn Thursday between Mexico’s Tulum and the island of Cozumel. The officials would be evacuating hotels there that were not made to withstand hurricanes.

On Wednesday evening, Grace had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 16 mph (26 kph), according to the US National Hurricane Center. The storm’s center was located about 170 miles (275 kilometers) east of Tulum.

Businesses began taping and boarding up windows and lines formed at grocery stores as families stocked up on essentials.

“We’re taking precautions, buying milk, sugar, water and cookies because we don’t know how long we’ll be shut in,” said 21-year-old homemaker Adamaris García, standing in a line of dozens of people at a small store.

Meanwhile, some tourists fretted over a lost day at the beach during their vacations while others prepared for their first hurricane experience.

State authorities said that as of last week, the region was hosting about 130,000 tourists and hotels were more than half full despite the pandemic.

(With inputs from Associated Press)