Hurricane Emily to Strike Cancún - Rich People Evacuating

Courtesy NOAA

It appears Emily is going to take a bite out of our beloved Cancún. We're watching and thinking of our friends there. As you can imagine, housing in El Centro is not as sound as the hotels and villas built for tourist use both on Cancún Island - also known as the Hotel Zone - and along the coast from Cancún to Playa del Carmen. It sounds like evacuation efforts are focused on and maybe even reserved for tourists; I haven't seen anything about evacuation of the citizens who live in Cancún City. Imagine my surprise. The rich, white people get to leave before the poor, brown people. I know, it's just shocking, isn't it?

A massive evacuation of tourists in one of the world's largest resorts began Sunday, as hundreds of buses were dispatched to move tens of thousands of tourists away from Hurricane Emily, heading toward a direct hit on the coast.

The very size of the task was daunting: about 500 buses were ordered to move 30,000 tourists in Cancun - part of a total of 70,000 to 80,000 mostly foreign tourists to be evacuated statewide to temporary shelters in ballrooms and convention centers.

"We have very little hope that this will change course," said a grim-faced Cancun Mayor, Francisco Alor. "This hurricane is coming with same force as Gilbert," a legendary 1988 hurricane that killed 300 people in Mexico and the Caribbean. Full Story...

Emily is almost a category 5 storm now, with winds of 150 mph. Manuela, Jesus, Yanet...everyone: we are thinking of you. Cuidado amigos, cuidado.