Hurricane Beryl, which is sweeping the southeastern Caribbean at maximum strength, caused at least one death and significant damage in the English-speaking archipelago of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on Tuesday, but is expected to lose some intensity off the coast of Jamaica on Wednesday, according to the American National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Around 23:00 local time on Monday (03:00 GMT on Tuesday), the NHC announced that Beryl had moved to Category 5, becoming the earliest such danger ever recorded in the Atlantic.
On the Saffir-Simpson scale, used to describe the intensity of storms, category 5 is the strongest, corresponding to winds greater than 252 km/h and with “potentially catastrophic” effects.
At 0600 GMT on Tuesday, in its first bulletin of the day, the NHC said winds were strengthening to nearly 270 km/h. Beryl is now expected to “weaken” later Tuesday, according to the 0900 GMT bulletin, but the danger remains.
“The eye of Beryl will continue to move rapidly across the southeastern and central Caribbean Sea today (Tuesday) and is expected to pass near Jamaica on Wednesday and the Cayman Islands on Thursday,” the NHC said.
It “is still expected to be close to the intensity of a major hurricane,” he added. Jamaica has been under hurricane watch since Monday evening.
Damaged fishing boats near the Bridgetown Fish Market in Barbados, after Hurricane Beryl on July 1, 2024.
AFP
Randy Brooks
Before being upgraded to Category 5, the eye of the hurricane devastated Carriacou, a small island in Grenada known for its beauty, on Monday.
Winds were measured at up to 240 km/h and “in half an hour, Carriacou was razed to the ground,” Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell announced at a press briefing on Monday.
No deaths were immediately reported, but it was impossible to say “with certainty that no one was injured or killed because of the hurricane,” he said.
Videos obtained by AFP from St. George’s, the capital of Grenada, showed torrential rain and trees buffeted by violent gusts of wind.
Mr Mitchell said on social media that the government was working to get aid to Carriacou and the neighbouring island of Petite Martinique. “The state of emergency remains in effect. Stay home,” he urged on Facebook.
In the neighbouring archipelago of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Beryl wreaked havoc, causing “significant damage” and at least one death, according to Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves.
“Unfortunately, there is one person killed. There could be more victims, we are not sure,” he added in a video on Facebook, and “90% of the homes were badly damaged or destroyed on one of the islands where the airport roof was torn off,” he added.
“Earliest” hurricane
A flooded street in the parish of St. James on the west coast of Barbados after Hurricane Beryl, July 1, 2024.
AFP
CHANDAN KHANNA
Beryl is the first hurricane of the season in the Atlantic.
A weather event of this scale is extremely rare so early in the hurricane season, which runs from early June to late November in the United States.
On Monday, US President Joe Biden and his team assured that they were “closely monitoring” the situation and working “to ensure the safety of all American citizens in the region.”
“Only five major hurricanes (of force 3 or greater) have been recorded in the Atlantic before the first week of July,” hurricane expert Michael Lowry told X. By becoming the sixth, Beryl is also “the earliest of those ever recorded this far east.”
Barbados appears to have escaped the worst, although high winds and rain continued to hit the territory, with no casualties so far.
It appears to have been a “narrow escape”, Interior and Information Minister Wilfred Abrahams said in a video, although gusty winds are still to be expected.
Homes and businesses were flooded and fishing boats damaged in Bridgetown.
Barbados after Hurricane Beryl on July 1, 2024
AFP
Randy Brooks
On the French island of Martinique, which is on tropical storm alert, as are the south of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the wind has strengthened since Sunday afternoon, with occasional heavy showers, but not exceptional, according to AFP correspondents on the ground.
Some 10,000 customers were left without electricity in Martinique in various municipalities, according to EDF.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had predicted an extraordinary season in late May, predicting the possibility of four to seven Category 3 or higher hurricanes.
