Windows are boarded up on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, as residents prepare for Hurricane Ernesto to make landfall.<br/> <br />With top winds of 85 miles per hour (140 km per hour), Ernesto is predicted to hit the coast on Tuesday (August 7) night.<br/> <br />Heavy rain has already battered parts of the city Chetumal, leaving areas flooded in up to six inches of water.<br/> <br />Thirty-five shelters have been set up in the area popular with tourists.<br/> <br />Patricia Footit was evacuated from her beach-front hotel.<br/> <br />SOUNDBITE: CANADIAN TOURIST, PATRICIA FOOTIT, SAYING (English):<br/> <br />"They told us this morning via loud speaker that we had to be ready to evacuate in one hour. That was about 10:30 and I was still in bed. So I got up and packed and here I am."<br/> <br />Officials say the eye of the hurricane will likely hit a small fishing village first.<br/> <br />It will then move to the southern Gulf of Mexico, where state oil company Pemex has facilities.
