Hurricane Emily battered Mexico's Caribbean beach resorts today and forced thousands of tourists out of seafront hotels and into crowded shelters.
Emily knocked out power lines, blew down trees and whipped up dangerous waves at the popular resort of Cancun and along the "Maya Riviera," normally a vacation playground of long, white beaches and calm seas.
There were no early reports of injury or death in Mexico.
After killing at least four people in its swing across the Caribbean, Emily hit Mexico's coast as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 135 mph (215 kph). Cozumel island, a popular diving destination, appeared to take the hardest hit.
Emily lost some punch as it moved inland, dropping to a Category 2 hurricane with winds near 110 mph, but forecasters said it would probably gather new strength when it heads out over the Gulf of Mexico later today.
Mexico shut down most of the offshore wells in its most productive oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico, and two major ports that export crude were also closed.
Thousands of tourists cut short their beach vacations and fled for home over the weekend. But many were unable to leave or decided to see it through at makeshift shelters.
Luxury beachfront hotels were boarded up, so inland hotels put up guests as well as local residents. Some squeezed in 15 people per room and schools and gymnasiums were also used in the operation to protect about 60,000 people.
Soldiers packed 2,000 visitors from three luxury hotels into one gymnasium in Cancun and simply barred the doors.
Emily killed four people when a car was swept away by flood waters in Jamaica yesterday. Two pilots were killed in Mexico on Saturday night when their helicopter was blown by a gust of wind into the Gulf of Mexico during oil rig evacuations.
Hurricane watches were issued today for the south Texas coast and northeastern Mexico, where Emily is expected to make landfall early on Wednesday morning after crossing the Gulf of Mexico.