A weakened Hurricane Emily triggered flooding outside Mexico’s third-largest city last night after demolishing homes, toppling trees and sparking thousands of evacuations on the northern Gulf Coast.

Thousands fled as the outer edge of Hurricane Emily lashed coastal areas around the Texas-Mexico border and its already powerful centre continued to strengthen just offshore.

HURRICANE Emily was gathering strength in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday as it took aim at north-eastern Mexico and south Texas, a day after ripping roofs off resort hotels and stranding thousands of tourists in the Yucatan Peninsula.

OIL prices drifted higher yesterday despite only limited supply disruptions caused by Hurricane Emily in the Gulf of Mexico.

Hurricane Emily stranded thousands of tourists along Mexico’s luxurious Mayan Riviera and left hundreds of local residents homeless yesterday, forcing many to remain in crowded, leaky shelters.

Hurricane Emily swept over the Yucatan peninsula early today, snapping whole rows of concrete power lines in half, flooding some streets with knee-deep water and shattering ground-floor windows.

Weather forecasters have predicted Hurricane Emily will hover over Mexico for the next three days bringing strong winds and floods to some of the country's top holidays resorts.

Hurricane Emily regained dangerous Category 4 strength today, frightening storm-weary islanders in Jamaica and Cayman Islands after ravaging Grenada.

Hurricane Emily strengthened dangerously today after slamming into Grenada, where it blasted out windows and flooded two main hospitals and tore roofs from homes still damaged by last year’s storms. At least one man was killed.

Tropical Storm Emily grew to hurricane strength today as the system crossed the Windward Islands of the Caribbean, the National Centre in Miami said.