A weakened Delta hit the Yucatan Peninsula near the city of Puerto Morelos as a Category 2 storm. Photo: AFP/RAMMB/NOAA

A weakened Delta hit the Yucatan Peninsula near the city of Puerto Morelos as a Category 2 storm, the National Hurricane Center said.

On Tuesday, it had reached “extremely dangerous” Category 4 status. The hurricane was downgraded to Category 3 as it approached the peninsula.

It hit Mexico’s Riviera Maya coast, which is home to major tourist resort towns including Cancun, although the number of visitors has plummeted because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Thousands of tourists had hunkered down in emergency shelters as the storm approached with a potentially life-threatening storm surge.

By nightfall on Tuesday, Cancun’s streets were mostly empty, shops closed and windows covered by wooden sheets or crossed with adhesive tape to try to prevent them from shattering.

More than 40,000 tourists in Cancun and neighbouring resorts were evacuated, the head of the area’s hotel association, Roberto Citron, told the AFP news agency.

Most were Mexicans, but they also included foreigners, notably from the United States.

In Cancun alone, more than 160 shelters were set up.

The authorities said the emergency shelters had been sanitised to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 81,000 people in Mexico and battered the key tourism industry.

“To prevent the spread of COVID-19, the same measures have been taken in the shelters as in hotels, such as the use of gel and face masks,” said Cintron.

Soldiers wearing masks and face shields were seen preparing to deploy for relief efforts.