Hurricane Beryl, which is threatening the south-eastern Caribbean, has strengthened again and has been upgraded to “extremely dangerous” by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami in the United States, forcing residents to barricade themselves in.
Videos from local media already show very strong winds, particularly in Barbados, the easternmost of the string of islands located in the southern Caribbean, called in English the Windward Islands, where according to the NHC, the hurricane is expected to arrive “in the morning of Monday”.
“Béryl has strengthened into an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane. Potentially deadly winds and storms are expected this (Monday) morning in the Windward Islands,” the NHC announced Monday at 12:30 GMT.
A few hours earlier, this hurricane, early for the season, had been downgraded to category 3 on the Saffir-Simson scale, without this removing its dangerous character.
A Category 4 hurricane is considered extremely dangerous because it carries winds of at least 209 kilometers per hour. As of 5:00 p.m. (2100 GMT) on Sunday, Beryl was already carrying winds of that force, according to the NHC.
“Don’t go anywhere until the green light is given,” urged Wilfred Abrahams, Barbados’ minister of public affairs. “So far, no injuries have been reported,” he added.
Motorists queue at a gas station before the arrival of Hurricane Beryl on June 29, 2024 in Bridgetown, on the island of Barbados.
AFP/CHANDAN KHANNA
Beryl is the first hurricane of the season in the Atlantic for 2024, a climatic phenomenon of this scale is extremely rare so early in the hurricane season – which extends from the beginning of June to the end of November in the United States.
“Only five major hurricanes (force 3 or greater) were recorded in the Atlantic before the first week of July. If Béryl does indeed become a major hurricane, it will be the sixth, and the earliest, ever recorded also in the “is,” hurricane expert Michael Lowry explains on X.
In Barbados, gas stations were stormed by motorists stocking up on gasoline. Supermarkets and small grocery stores were crowded with customers stocking up on water, food and other essentials. Almost everywhere, the same scene, residents nailing boards in front of their windows to protect them.
In addition to Barbados, several countries are placed on hurricane alert, such as Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada. The French island of Martinique is on tropical storm alert, as are southern Haiti and Dominica.
In Martinique, the wind has strengthened since Sunday afternoon, with heavy showers, but not exceptional, according to AFP correspondents on the ground.
A state of emergency has been declared on the island of Tobago, the second largest island and tourist attraction in the Trinidad and Tobago archipelago.
All schools remained closed on Monday and “will remain so until further notice,” the island’s chief executive, Farley Augustine, announced at a press briefing on Sunday.
“Most intense” season
St. Vincent and the Grenadines, along with Grenada, are most at risk of being caught in the hurricane’s path starting Monday morning, the NHC warned, warning that “potentially catastrophic wind damage is expected.”
In Grenada, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell called on residents to quickly take shelter and respect the curfew decreed for the entire island from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. Tuesday.
According to the island’s disaster management agency, Béryl, moving “rapidly”, is expected to make landfall between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. local Monday, or between 12:00 p.m. GMT and midnight GMT.
A meeting of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), scheduled for this week on the island, has been postponed.
Beryl, then still a tropical storm, photographed at 7:30 p.m. GMT on June 29, 2024. Photo distributed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
NOAA/GOES/AFP/HANDOUT
The NHC now expects it to remain powerful as it moves across the Caribbean, and has warned residents and local authorities in Dominica, Haiti, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and the rest of the northwestern Caribbean.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted an extraordinary season in late May, predicting the possibility of four to seven Category 3 or higher hurricanes.
