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Cancun flights affected, thousands without power as Grace finally arrives

Riviera Maya, Q.R. — UPDATED: Nearly 149,000 remain without power as Hurricane Grace finally made landfall along the coast of Quintana Roo. Governor Carlos Joaquin has explained the power outages, as reported by the CFE who say currently, 84,000 in Cancun are without electricity, while there are another 65,000 in Playa del Carmen, Cozumel and Tulum.

He has also said that as Grace neared, she again, changed trajectory from her last position of making landfall at Akumal for around 1:00 a.m. Instead, according to the NOAA, Grace finally reached the coast of Quintana Roo at 4:50 a.m. Thursday south of Tulum near the town of Chun Yah.

Since Grace is still in the region, her 130 km/h winds are being felt from Cancun downward, with her tropical storm gusts affecting a majority of Riviera Maya. The torrential rains she brought with her are present in municipalities in the north and center of Quintana Roo.

So far, no major damage has been reported aside from power outages and downed trees. However, the Cancun International Airport is warning travelers that at least 64 flights have already been canceled due to the arrival of Grace that included arrivals from Aguascalientes, Guadalajara, Oaxaca, Mexico City, Monterrey, Querétaro, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles and Costa Rica, among others.

Another 23 flights expected for Thursday to and from Veracruz, Tijuana, Guanajuato, Panama and Colombia, to name a few, were also canceled. So far, only one flight out of Cozumel has been canceled.

In a statement, Cancun airport managing company Aeropuertos del Sureste (Asur) is urging travelers to verify the status of their flight before going to the airport.

Governor Carlos Joaquín says that the Cancun and Chetumal airports will operate normally, while Cozumel had a temporary closure, but is expected to be up and running Thursday.

UPDATE: Governor Carlos Joaquin has provided a live update as of 9:30 a.m. Thursday to the situation regarding the continued passing of Hurricane Grace. In a brief live message, he said that the northern region has been downgraded to an Orange (high) alert and that the southern area south of Tulum is now Red (extreme) alert.

Hurricane Grace is still making her way through the region. She is expected to downgrade to a Tropical Storm before reaching the neighboring state of Yucatan later today.