Dangerous Hurricane Delta Makes Landfall Over Mexico’s Resort-Heavy Yucatan Peninsula

• Hurricane Delta

A weakened but still dangerous Hurricane Delta made landfall Wednesday near Puerto Morelos along the northeastern coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, bringing with it a possible “life-threatening” storm surge, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Puerto Morelos is just south of Cancun.

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Satellite imagery, radar data from Cuba and surface observations in Mexico indicate that Delta’s center came ashore around 6:30 a.m. EDT as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained top winds of 110 mph.

Quintana Roo Gov. Carlos Joaquín said the state government had prepared, but warned residents and tourists that “it is a strong, powerful hurricane,” though he considered it a good sign that Delta had weakened a bit late Tuesday.

He said the area hadn’t seen a storm like it since Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

Delta’s winds increased in strength by 80 mph in just 24 hours, more than doubling from 60 mph at 2 p.m. EDT Monday to 140 mph at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Its top winds peaked at 145 mph before they diminished slightly as it closed in on Yucatan.

Delta’s rapid intensification was the fastest in the Caribbean since Wilma’s.

That storm went from 75 mph to 185 mph in just 24 hours, notes CBS News meteorologist and climate specialist Jeff Berardelli.