Hurricane Beryl barrels toward Jamaica as category 5 storm after ‘flattening’ Grenada island: Live

90 per cent of houses across Union Island in St Vincent and the Grenadines have been severely damaged or destroyed, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said in an address to the nation.

Union Island’s airport was also reported to have lost its roof after being blown away in the intense winds.

Elsewhere in the nation, hundreds of other buildings have been severely devastated after Beryl passed through, with Gonsalves saying in the community of Glen on the border between East and West St George, there had been 28 families made homeless as a result, local reports say.

Numerous homes, churches and schools have also suffered roof and other damage in the significant rainfall and heavy winds, which also tore apart trees, the nation’s agency for public information said.

Here is damage seen in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines:

At least one death has been reported in St Vincent and the Grenadines after the dangerously strong Hurricane Beryl passed over the region.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves announced the death on Monday evening, saying that the hurricane had “left in its wake immense destruction, pain, suffering, across our nation at this hour.”

Around 90 per cent of the homes on the nation’s Union Island have been left damaged or destroyed, Gonsalves said.

Hundreds of other homes and buildings, including churches, schools, and government buildings across St. Vincent, have also been left with substantial damage as the hurricane churned over the region.

“Tomorrow, we get up with our commitment and conviction to rebuild our lives and our families’ lives,” Gonsalves said Monday night.

He added that there could be more fatalities, but the government was unsure at that time.

Many communities have been cut-off by their power as a result of the storm, which first responders will be trying to restore along with clearing debris from the roadways once conditions are safe, the Prime Minister said.

President Joe Biden and his team say they are closely monitoring the intensified Hurricane Beryl, and are in contact with territory and local officials.

The White House says that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have resources and supplies that are ‘pre-staged’ in the region, with staff and partners ready to assist.

They added that the President stands ready to support the people of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the region as needed, and will work to ensure the safety of all US citizens in the region.

The President is also urging residents to pay attention to the warnings of local officials.

Beryl has sustained winds of 165mph as it strengthened into a Category 5 storm on Monday.

Hurricane Beryl has now beaten two historic records in the Atlantic as it continued to strengthen with winds sustained over 160mph.

Beryl now becomes the earliest Category 5 hurricane recorded in the Atlantic after it strengthened late on Monday, the National Hurricane Center has said.

The previous title was held by Hurricane Emily, who reached Category 5 on July 16, 2005.

Beryl was also named the earliest-ever Category 4 hurricane as it approached the eastern Caribbean over the weekend, as well as the only Category 4 in the month of June.

In this category, Beryl beat Hurricane Dennis, which became a Category 4 storm on July 8, 2005.

The Category 4 hurricane passed through Barbados early Monday morning, bringing high winds and storm surge. Officials had evacuated 400 people to hurricane shelters in Barbados Sunday, CNN reports.

Hurricane Beryl’s explosive growth into an unprecedented early whopper of a storm shows the literal hot water the Atlantic and Caribbean are in right now and the kind of season they can expect, experts said.

“Beryl is unprecedentedly strange,” said Weather Underground co-founder Jeff Masters, a former government hurricane meteorologist who flew into storms. “It is so far outside the climatology that you look at it and you say, ‘How did this happen in June?’”

AccuWeather meteorologists say X labeled their projected Hurricane Beryl path as “false information” but allowed other obvious misinformation on the site – a decision that could cost lives.

Read the full story from Katie Hawkinson.

Beryl was named the earliest-ever Category 4 hurricane as it approached the eastern Caribbean over the weekend. Hurricane Beryl is also the first major hurricane to reach east of the Lesser Antilles in June.

Meanwhile, record-high ocean temperatures helped the storm grow from a tropical depression to Category 4 over the weekend.