Hurricane Emily Moves into Gulf of Mexico

Coastal communities in southern Texas and northern Mexico waited Monday to see where Hurricane Emily would hit next after moving back to the Gulf of Mexico.

The National Weather Service declared a hurricane watch from Cabo Rojo, Mexico, north of Veracruz, to Baffin Bay, Texas, 33 miles south of Corpus Christi.

The NWS Hurricane Center reported Emily weakened to a Category 2 storm while it was over the Yucatan. But forecasters say the hurricane is likely to get stronger over water.

At 2 p.m. EDT, Emily was at 22 north latitude, 90.3 west longitude or about 510 miles east-southeast of Brownsville, Texas, moving at about 17 mph.

CNN reported Emily brought trees down and ripped the roofs from some tourist bungalows in Cancun and Cozumel.

Texan Gary Swindler spent the night sheltering in a conference room with his family and other guests at the Coral Princess Hotel in Cozumel.

The front door broke through about 11 p.m., he told CNN. Things were breaking and crashing; water was coming through.

The hotel was left without electricity and the swimming pool was full to overflowing with water, but structural damage was minor.

Sunday, Mexican authorities ordered some 130,000 tourists in Cancun and surrounding beaches to evacuate, and the state oil company Pemex also began evacuating 15,000 workers from 63 oil rigs off the Mexican coast.

Emily claimed one life in Grenada, four in Jamaica and two in Mexico.

The hurricane center’s long-range forecast said Emily is most likely to approach Mexico’s mainland near the Texas border by late Tuesday.