White Bear Lake paramedics brace for Hurricane Delta in Cancun

In the hours before Hurricane Delta’s expected landfall, Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula braced for impact. Business and homeowners boarded up windows and resorts were evacuated.

“This morning at like 7 a.m., they started bringing the shutters out at our resort and shuttering things up,” said Christy O’Neill.

She and Amy Kriegshauser are White Bear Lake paramedics. They arrived to Cancun on Sunday, hoping for a few days of relaxation after a stressful summer.

“We came down here after researching what would be safe and what places had low occupancies so we wouldn’t be around a lot of people,” said O’Neill.

She told us everyone at the resort was evacuated to a school farther inland, with the resort only able to withstand a Category 3 hurricane. They’re now sharing a classroom with 13 other people.

“Our classroom has the people that couldn’t make it up the stairs because they’re handicapped or have medical problems because we’re able to help,” she said.

According to O’Neill, some rooms have as many as 20 people.

“It’s got us concerned and we don’t have the N95 masks, we only have the cloth masks,” she said. “So there’s nothing but keeping this on and washing our hands constantly.”

O’Neill said they are also using their experience as paramedics to help, including assisting a few people suffering from heat exhaustion.

She said they waited 45 minutes in line to check out at a local grocery store, with many stocking up on supplies like bread and water.

Hurricane Delta is expected to make landfall overnight as a Category 4 storm after rapidly intensifying. It more than doubled in strength from Monday afternoon to Tuesday afternoon, according to ABC News.

The National Hurricane Center reports wind speeds have reached 145 miles per hour.

“It seems like Cancun is very unprepared for this in that the storm itself intensified so quickly that also caused some of the chaos,” said O’Neill.

The last major hurricane to hit Cancun was Wilma in 2005.

The National Hurricane Center is now warning of life-threatening storm surge, potentially catastrophic wind damage, and heavy rainfall.

With their Wednesday flight home canceled, O’Neill and Kriegshauser are now waiting for the storm to make landfall.

“We’re not really sure what to expect,” said O’Neill. “I mean we’re nervous.”

Kriegshauser added, “But we’re safe right now, we’re safe and we’re good.”