By MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico -- Hurricane Emily swept over the Yucatan Peninsula early Monday, snapping whole rows of concrete power lines in half, flooding some streets with knee-deep water and shattering ground-floor windows.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or serious injuries as the storm headed for the Gulf of Mexico.

"The worst is over," Felix Gonzalez, governor of Quintana Roo state, which includes Playa del Carmen and the resort city of Cancun, told Mexico's Televisa television network.

Thousands of local residents and foreign tourists spent the night in improvised shelters set up in hotels along the famous Mayan Riviera coastline, on the eastern side of the Yucatan Peninsula.

The storm's wind speeds had soared to as much as 135 mph (215 kph), making it a fierce Category 4 storm when it hit Mexico. It had weakened to Category 2 as it passed over the Yucatan Peninsula early Monday with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (160 kph.)

The storm was expected to emerge into the Gulf, possibly regaining strength, later Monday.

Its center roared ashore near Tulum, a collection of relatively upscale, thatched-hut lodgings alongside ancient Mayan ruins 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Cancun.

Damage from Emily was evident everywhere on the Mayan Riviera, whose white-sand beaches and turquoise waters attract both Mexican and foreign tourists.

Power was knocked out all along the coast. The force of the hurricane's winds snapped concrete utility poles in two along a half-mile stretch of highway between Playa del Carmen and Cancun to the north.

Plate glass windows were shattered on the ground floors of numerous businesses in Playa del Carmen, while residents waded through knee-deep water along some streets.

Sunday in Cancun, hundreds of buses moved more than 25,000 people -- mostly tourists -- to temporary shelters, evacuating them from hotels and low-lying seaside neighborhoods that were battered by strong waves.

About 60,000 tourists were evacuated all together from Cancun, Tulum, Playa de Carmen and Cozumel, an island just south of Cancun famous for its diving.

"All night long, cold water was pouring in through the holes in the wall," said tourist Graham Brighton, of Leicester, England, one of about 1,000 people who spent the night on thin foam pads thrown onto a gymnasium floor in Cancun. "There were just far too many people crammed into one space."

Mexico's state-owned oil company announced Sunday that two pilots were killed in the Gulf of Mexico when their helicopter was downed by strong winds as they tried to land on an offshore oil rig to evacuate workers.

The craft, operated by a contract company, was part of a fleet of 15 ships and 26 helicopters that was working to transfer 15,500 oil workers to shore before Emily heads into the Gulf, likely making landfall again sometime Wednesday.

The platform evacuations closed 63 wells and halted the production of 480,000 barrels of oil per day.

On Cozumel, tourists in beach-side hotels were moved to accommodations closer to the center of the island, which was the first to be hit by the storm. Residents were relocated to shelters in schools and community centers. It was not immediately clear how seriously the island was affected.

Cancun's airport closed Sunday afternoon after thousands lined up at ticket counters, trying to get flights out before the storm hit.

North of Cozumel, the Isla de Mujeres appeared to have escaped major damage, Televisa reported.

In Jamaica, searchers on Sunday found four bodies trapped inside a car, which was filled with mud and other debris, police said. A man, a woman, an infant boy and his 5-year-old sister had been driving through a flooded rural road in southwest Jamaica when a surge of water pushed them over a cliff, police said.

The Cayman Islands escaped major damage. The islands and a handful of other Caribbean countries were devastated last year when three catastrophic hurricanes -- Frances, Ivan and Jeanne -- tore through the region with a collective ferocity not seen in years, causing hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars in damage.

A hurricane warning remained in effect Monday for the Yucatan Peninsula from southern Chetumal to Cabo Catoche on the peninsula's northern tip, and west and south to Campeche, including Cozumel and the Islas Mujeres. A hurricane warning means that hurricane conditions are likely.

A hurricane watch remained in effect from Cabo Rojo, Mexico, along the Gulf coast, northward to Baffin Bay, Texas. A hurricane watch means that hurricane conditions are possible.

A tropical storm watch for the coast of Belize was discontinued.

Cancun's last big evacuation was for Hurricane Gilbert, which killed some 300 people in Mexico and the Caribbean in 1988. But the city and surrounding resort areas had only about 8,000 hotel rooms then. That number has since grown to more than 50,000.

Storm preparations also have improved with time.

"Back in the days of Gilbert, we didn't have prevention or prediction," said Cancun hotel worker Eduardo Gomez. "By the time we heard it was coming, it was already on top of us."

________________________________PS: and i had plans to go to CANCUN!