Hurricane Delta slams into Mexico near Cancun

Hurricane Delta rapidly lost strength before landfall near top Caribbean getaway Cancun on Wednesday, potentially saving the area's hotels, condos and Mayan indigenous villages from an onslaught threatened when it was a menacing Category 4 storm.

This report produced by Yahaira Jacquez.

Packing maximum sustained winds of 110 miles-per-hour, Hurricane Delta made landfall Wednesday near the Mexican resort town of Cancun as a Category 2 storm.

The hurricane had rapidly lost strength before making landfall from category 4 strength but residents still woke up to destruction: palm trees were uprooted and businesses in the tourist hotspot were damaged.

Since Monday, locals have formed long lines at supermarkets to load up on food and shop workers boarded up windows.

While tourists -- like Blake Greer from Texas -- scrambled to leave the area.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST FROM TEXAS, BLAKE GREER, SAYING:''We're trying to leave because of the hurricane.

We're just trying to get out of here." Delta is expected to bring dangerous storm surge of up to 9 feet to the Yucatan Peninsula before re-emerging in the Gulf of Mexico.

Once over open water, Delta is expected to gather strength again before heading toward the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi later this week.