The Caribbean island nation of Jamaica on Wednesday was facing the brunt of hurricane Beryl, classified as a powerful ‘Category 4’ storm. So far it has killed at least six people, flattened numerous homes and destroyed crops on smaller islands as it has churned through the eastern Caribbean.
“Beryl has also affected the Cayman Islands and is expected to spin up to even higher speeds by Wednesday night and Thursday,” the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an advisory.
Local authorities have issued hurricane warnings as the rapidly moving hurricane has felled power lines and unleashed flash floods across smaller islands.
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Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince — currently in the grip of gang violence and experiencing an ongoing humanitarian crisis — also saw strong winds on Tuesday afternoon.
The new Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille has warned residents to take precautions and stay alert.
Hurricane Beryl rips through Caribbean
Though slightly weakened, a destructive Hurricane Beryl is still on its way through the Caribbean and is now heading for Jamaica. Devastating winds and flooding have smashed houses and ships, killing at least six people.
Image: Ricardo Mazalan/AP Photo/picture alliance
Smashing records
Hurricane Beryl, seen here making landfall in Barbados, is the first dangerous hurricane of the season. Fueled by record warm waters, it strengthened into a top-level Category 5 storm late on Monday — the earliest Category 5 storm in the Atlantic on record, according to the National Hurricane Center in the US and the World Meteorological Organization. It has since weakened to a Category 4.
Image: CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP/Getty Images
‘Potentially catastrophic’
Barbados appeared to have been spared the worst of the storm but was still hit with high winds and pelting rain. The storm has developed into a “potentially catastrophic” hurricane with wind speeds of up to 240 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour), the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday evening.
State of emergency
In just over 24 hours, Beryl developed from a tropical storm on Sunday into a Category 5 hurricane. Authorities have declared a state of emergency in Tobago, the smaller of the two islands that make up Trinidad and Tobago (seen above), with schools ordered closed and flights canceled.
Island of Carriacou ‘flattened’
Already as a Category 4 hurricane, Beryl lay waste to the port of Bridgetown on Barbados. Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said the island of Carriacou was “flattened” in half an hour, with water, food and baby formula now in short supply. An emergency team was expected to arrive in Carriacou on Tuesday morning.
Flooding in Venezuela
In Venezuela’s northern state of Sucre, Beryl brought heavy rain and flooding. Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, was injured after a gust of wind knocked down tree during her visit to the disaster area. “She was hit hard, but she is conscious,” President Nicolas Maduro said in a speech to supporters.
Devastating force
Union Island, one of the southernmost islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, was hit especially hard. Around 90% of the island’s homes were heavily damaged or destroyed, said Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves on Tuesday, who has promised to rebuild. The full extent of the storm damage is still unknown.
Escaping with their lives
These residents of Union Island were able to find refuge in Kingstown, on the northern island of St. Vincent. But the situation remains tense: throughout the southeast Caribbean, streets are littered with trees and other debris. Electricity was disrupted everywhere on Tuesday, and communication between the islands remains difficult.
Deadly path
As the cleanup begins on Barbados, the storm continues to move. Beryl is expected to remain an extremely dangerous hurricane as it continues its path across the Caribbean. According to forecasts, it will pass just south of Jamaica and reach Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula by Thursday, where it could hit the popular beach resorts of Cancun and Playa del Carmen.
Getting ready in Jamaica
Ahead of the storm in Kingston, Jamaica, these shoppers rushed to stock up on essential supplies. “I urge all Jamaicans to stock up on food, batteries, candles, and water,” said Prime Minister Andrew Holness on X. The hurricane is expected to hit the island on Wednesday, he added, declaring a state of emergency and 12-hour curfew from 6 a.m. local time.
Empty shelves
In Cancun, Mexico, meanwhile, some stores were already almost completely cleared out of non-perishable food.
Historic hurricane season?
Weather experts are already talking about a historic hurricane season. Beryl has already broken several records, including marking the farthest east that a hurricane has formed in the Atlantic in June, said hurricane researcher Philip Klotzbach of Colorado State University.
More storms expected
In addition to the high water temperatures in the Atlantic, the hurricane season could be fueled by the expected onset of the climate phenomenon La Nina, a phase of cooler water in the Pacific. Climate change also plays a role: global warming increases the likelihood of more destructive storms.
Grenada’s PM calls it ‘Armageddon-like’
Hurricane Beryl also churned towards St. Vincent and the Grenadines hitting the area particularly hard, according to Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves. “The hurricane has come and gone, and it has left in its wake immense destruction,” he said.
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“90% of homes had been severely damaged or destroyed on one island in the Grenadines archipelago, Union Island,” Prime Minister Gonsalves added. He confirmed one death and said more fatalities could be confirmed in the coming days.
The situation is “Armageddon-like,” Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said in a video briefing on Tuesday. He stressed that Carriacou and Petite Martinique, two of the three islands that make up the country, were badly affected by the natural disaster.
“There is no power. There is almost complete destruction of homes and buildings,” he said, citing impassable roads due to downed power lines and destroyed fuel stations crimping supplies.
Beryl, the first to reach Category 4 in June
Scientists have said that Beryl’s arrival has come earlier than is normally the case for such powerful storms. Given how the storm is rapidly strengthening, human-caused climate change might be the culprit, scientists argue.
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The weather system is this year’s first Atlantic hurricane and the earliest storm on record to reach the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.
“The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is a 1 to 5 rating based only on a hurricane’s maximum sustained wind speed. This scale does not take into account other potentially deadly hazards such as storm surges, rainfall flooding, and tornadoes” the Central Pacific Hurricane Center reported.
