Tourists face chaos as Hurricane Emily sweeps in

The category four storm, which has wrought havoc and left one dead on the Caribbean island of Grenada, and caused flooding in Trinidad and Tobago, is due to hit the coast of Mexico and Jamaica within the next 24 hours.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has asked tourists trapped in the resorts to closely monitor local news reports.

A spokeswoman said: "We are using the standard procedure of asking people to listen to reports and check updates on our websites."

Mexican authorities have advised hotels to evacuate tourists from resorts along its Caribbean coast - such as Cancun and Tulum - at the first signs of the storm, which is set to strike late this evening local time.

Roger Tupul, from the Cancun Ritz Carlton, said: "Everything is calm at the moment but we are waiting for the authorities to announce when we should start moving tourists to our other hotel downtown, away from the coast."

He said the hotel, which has 365 rooms, is 90% full, but residents are taking the earliest flights available out of the area.

A British Airways and an Air Jamaica flight from Heathrow Airport to the Caribbean are likely to be affected by the storms today. A BA spokesman said its 11:20am flight to Nassau in the Bahamas and Grand Cayman in the Caribbean may be cancelled.

"Things are not looking too bad at the moment but we are looking closely at the situation," he said.

With a category four hurricane, winds of 131-155mph are expected, causing destruction to trees and damage to houses. Last September, Hurricane Ivan, which was a category three, left properties in Grenada and parts of Jamaica devastated.

Thomas Cook has rescheduled the flights of almost 700 holidaymakers to keep them out of Hurricane Emily's path.

Spokeswoman Faith Wootton said: "Only Jamaica is currently on hurricane watch and most of our tourists are on the north coast - the hurricane is heading for the south. We are contacting our Cancun customers to let them know about the flight alterations. If, however, the hurricane changes its path before it reaches the resort, we will reinstate the original flights and let them know."

British Airways staff have been stuck in a Jamaica hotel as the hurricane moved towards the island.

The Association of British Travel Agents said friends and family of tourists in Cancun should rest assured most of the area's hotels were "hurricane-proof".

Abta spokesman Sean Tipton said: "Emily is heading straight for Cancun but the hotels there are of a very high standard so hopefully many people will not need evacuating."

The Mexican resort received a battering from the category five hurricane, Gilbert, in 1988. It killed 318 people across the Caribbean and Mexico, demolished hotels and restaurants and left Cancun's tourism industry in tatters. Since then proprietors have upgraded their safety standards, Tipton said.

"It is recognised that it is far safer to keep people where they are rather than move them unless it is absolutely necessary and most businesses in the area have very good provisions now," he added.