Mexican resorts survive Hurricane Emily's wrath

Mexico's Caribbean beach resorts escaped almost unscathed yesterday from Hurricane Emily, which blew down trees and cut power but nothing more serious.

Cozumel island, a popular diving destination, took the hardest hit. The storm uprooted trees and smashed windows of homes and businesses.

"The danger has passed... the worst is over," said Felix Gonzalez, the governor of Quintana Roo state, home to Mexico's Caribbean resorts.

Mexico shut down the majority of the offshore wells in its most productive oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico, and two major ports that export crude oil remained closed early yesterday.

Tourists and residents of the "Maya Riviera" escaped the storm's fury by spending an uncomfortable night crammed into crowded shelters.

Emily killed four people in Jamaica before it hit Mexico, where it was indirectly responsible for three deaths over the weekend.

At first light yesterday morning, cars picked their way through branches strewn across the road in Cancun, the main resort on a long strip of coastline of white sands, turquoise seas and lively nightlife.

There was no immediate sign of serious structural damage.

"I have lived through three hurricanes, and I was expecting a lot more entertainment," said Andre Elwes, 29, a Canadian who runs a tourist submarine in Cozumel, home to some of the world's best scuba diving.

The storm, at one point a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 215 km/h, had dropped to a Category 2 storm yesterday. Emily was crossing the low-lying Yucatan Peninsula and was due to enter the Gulf of Mexico and regain strength later yesterday. It was expected to threaten the southern Texas coast mid-week.

The government warned residents of the state of Yucatan to be alert. "We have been asking them not to go out into the street because this storm is still very dangerous," said Carmen Segura Rangel, the head of Mexico's civil protection agency.

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), the hurricane's center was over the Yucatan peninsula, just northeast of the pretty colonial city of Merida. Its winds had dropped to 160 km/h.

Many locals had feared a repeat of Hurricane Gilbert, which tore up Cancun in 1988, razing homes and killing hundreds.