THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 12, 1995 TAG: 9510120305
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Roxanne refused to give up its title, stubbornly maintaining hurricane force even while passing over land Wednesday and causing heavy damage on parts of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
There was good news, however, for edgy residents of the U.S. Gulf Coast - especially in areas of Florida ravaged by Opal: It appears unlikely that Roxanne will turn north, the National Hurricane Center said.
Mexico's resort island of Cozumel, which bore the full brunt of Roxanne's sustained 115 mph winds, was believed to have suffered the worst destruction. But details were few Wednesday night. With no electricity or telephone service, all communications with the island were out except for a couple of amateur radio stations.
This is the worst storm to hit the Yucatan since Gilbert slammed the area in 1989, killing 300 people.
Roxanne emerged from the Yucatan late in the afternoon and was already intensifying again.
Its sustained winds had dropped to 75 mph - barely hurricane-force - during its 18-hour passage over the Yucatan. But the Mexican Weather Service said a monitoring station near Merida recorded sustained winds of 75 mph with gusts to 108 mph as the eye emerged over the Bay of Campeche.
At 5 p.m., the center of Roxanne was near the city of Campeche on the west coast of the Yucatan, moving west at nearly 12 mph. That motion was expected to continue today, bringing the center of the hurricane over the Bay of Campeche.
Lixion Avila, a forecaster with the Hurricane Center in Miami, said Roxanne appears to be trapped south of a low-pressure ridge that is expected to guide the hurricane west and west-southwest.
The storm is expected to be nearing its second landfall in Mexico by early Thursday.
``This hurricane may produce very heavy rains over the area already soaked and pounded by Opal, mainly in the (Mexican) states of Tabasco and Campeche,'' Avila said.
John Hope, senior meteorologist at The Weather Channel in Atlanta, said a low-pressure trough moving west to east across the United States might snag Roxanne and haul it north - as happened with Opal.
But, ``right now, that doesn't seem a very likely scenario,'' he said Wednesday afternoon.
While such a powerful trough was developing, it's not expected to be in place before Friday or Saturday. Unless Roxanne slows, it will already be inland over Mexico by then.
``What we are looking for is this storm to march west right across the Bay of Campeche and not move north,'' Hope said. ``It seems ready to strike this part of Mexico a very hard blow. It could have a very severe impact.''
Mexico extended hurricane warnings from Progresso to Tuxpan. That area, particularly Campeche Sound, provides the bulk of Mexico's crude oil.
The state-owned oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, suspended all operations in the area and more than 3,500 oil workers were being evacuated from drilling rigs in Campeche Sound.
Initial reports from the resort of Cancun on the north coast of the Yucatan were that damage was minimal, especially to the many luxury hotels. Many homes, especially those with thatched roofs, were damaged, however.
About 10,000 tourists fled the resort ahead of Roxanne. Some were returning Wednesday night.
In Tulum, a town of ancient Mayan ruins, Jose Moguel checked the damage to his property Wednesday. His garage, with two cars and two trucks inside, was destroyed. The tin roof resembled crumpled foil.
Moguel and his family huddled in the adjoining two-story house and corner store when the hurricane stormed through.
``It was horrible. The children were terrified,'' he told The Associated Press. ``You could hear the metal being bent.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
TRACKER'S GUIDE
Tropical cyclone data from the National Hurricane Center includes
latitude, longitude and maximum sustained winds.
Hurricane Roxanne
Date Time Lat. Long. MPH 10/10 11 p.m. 20.2 87.8 10010/11 5 a.m.
20.0 88.9 8511 a.m. 19.9 89.5 755 p.m. 19.7 90.6 75
To hear updates from the National Hurricane Center, call INFOLINE
at 640-5555 and enter category 1237.
For complete tracking data on any storm, including barometric
pressure, direction and extra positions, write THR, P.O. Box 13191,
Chesapeake, Va. 23325-0191.
by CNB