Hurricane Beryl has been upgraded to Category 5 as it passes through the southeastern Caribbean islands.
The National Hurricane Center said in a post on
Beryl ripped off doors, windows and roofs from homes in the southeastern Caribbean after record-warm waters pushed it ashore on Grenada’s Carriacou island on Monday. The earliest Category 4 storm in the Atlantic Ocean.
Grenada Prime Minister Deacon Mitchell said late Monday that one person had died and authorities were unable to assess the situation on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
Initial reports indicated heavy damage, but communications were largely disrupted.
“Within half an hour, Carriacou was razed to the ground,” Mitchell told a news conference, according to AFP.
Later, the prime minister said on social media that the government was working to deliver relief supplies to Carriacou and Petite Martinique on Tuesday. “The state of emergency remains in effect. Stay indoors,” he wrote on Facebook.
hurricane #beryl Bulletin 14: Beryl becomes a potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane in the Eastern Caribbean. Life-threatening winds and storm surges are expected to bring life-threatening winds and storm surges to Jamaica later this week. https://t.co/tW4KeGe9uJ
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) July 2, 2024
Streets from the southern island of St. Lucia to Grenada were strewn with shoes, trees, downed power lines and other debris. Banana trees were snapped, cows lay dead in green pastures, and nearby houses made of tin and plywood were crumbling.
Beryl’s winds increased to 260 km/h (160 mph) late Monday. Fluctuations in strength are likely over the coming days.
Beryl is moving into the Caribbean as a Category 1 storm Thursday night, moving from southern Jamaica toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.
Hurricane warnings were issued for Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia, Tobago, St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Monday, with thousands of people sheltering in their homes and shelters.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said before the storm that “it’s going to be horrific,” and he urged people to stay indoors and “wait for this monster to go away.”
The last major hurricane to hit the southeastern Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan nearly 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for Martinique and Trinidad. A tropical storm watch has been issued for the Dominican Republic, the entire southern coast of Haiti, and from west of Punta Palenque in the Dominican Republic to the border with Haiti.
“This is a very dangerous situation,” the National Hurricane Center in Miami warned earlier.
He said Beryl has built strength from record-warming waters that are now warmer than at the peak of hurricane season in September. Experts say rising water temperatures are the result of a global climate crisis caused largely by the burning of fossil fuels.
In partnership with AP and AFP
