Hurricane Delta is now Category 4.  (NOAA/GOES / AFP)

Havana, October 6 (RHC)-- Hurricane Delta has reached Category 4 as it heads for the coast of Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center reported.

According to the latest reports (as of 1 p.m. EST), Delta has maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometers per hour, with wind gusts of up to 215 kilometers per hour, with a translation speed of 26 k/h. According to Mexico's National Meteorological System, the center of the hurricane is located 520 kilometers east-southeast of Cozumel and 550 kilometers southeast of Cancun, Quintana Roo.

In the early morning hours of this Tuesday, October 6, Delta was located as a Category 2 hurricane, but the meteorological conditions caused it to gain strength in the last hours.

"The deep humidity associated with Hurricane Delta will cause heavy rains in parts of the Cayman Islands, western Cuba and northern Yucatan Peninsula until mid-week.  This rain could cause significant flash flooding and landslides," the NHC said.

"Tonight will bring the potential for heavy to occasional torrential rains accompanied by thunderstorms to the Yucatan Peninsula, as well as strong winds with gusts of 150 to 240 kilometers per hour, swells of 6 to 10 meters high and a storm surge of 1 to 2 meters high in northern Quintana Roo and eastern Yucatan," the NHC said in its weather forecast. 

In the morning, the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, reported that 5,000 troups of the armed forces would be mobilized to Quintana Roo and Yucatán to attend to the population in view of the possible effects of Hurricane Delta.

The Mexican government planned to implement the DN-III plan to attend to natural disasters, which will be operated by the Secretary of the Navy, Rafael Ojeda, and the head of the National Coordination of Civil Protection, Laura Velázquez.

The governor of Quintana Roo, Carlos Joaquín, informed that his administration has initiated "the process of evacuation in Isla Holbox, Punta Allen, Hotel Zone of Cancún, the tents of the Kumate Hospital in Cancún, hotel zone of Puerto Morelos, Punta Herrero, Isla María Elena, Banco Chinchorro".

Mexican authorities also asked the population to move to a safe shelter in case they feel that their home may be vulnerable to the effects of the hurricane.