Beryl has now developed into a 'potentially catastrophic' hurricane.
Bridgetown, Barbados:
Hurricane Beryl strengthened into a Category 5 storm on Monday evening after moving across several islands in the southeastern Caribbean, dumping heavy rain and devastating wind gusts.
Beryl is now the earliest Category 5 storm on record in the Atlantic and has developed into a “potentially catastrophic” hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (260 km/h), the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
Early in the day, the island of Carriacou, Grenada, was directly hit by the storm's “extremely dangerous eye wall,” with sustained winds exceeding 150 miles (240 kilometers) in height, the NHC said.
Nearby islands, including Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, also experienced “catastrophic winds and life-threatening storm surge,” the NHC said.
“Within half an hour, Carriacou was razed to the ground,” Grenada's Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell told a news conference.
“We're not there yet,” Mitchell added, noting that while there have been no fatalities, he can't say for sure that there have been no fatalities.
Video footage from St. George's, Grenada shows heavy rain and trees being blown over by gusts of wind.
Mitchell later said on social media that the government was working to get relief supplies to Carriacou and the island of Petite Martinique on Tuesday.
“The state of emergency is still in effect. Stay indoors,” he wrote on Facebook.
Rare early strong storm
Beryl became the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season on Saturday and quickly strengthened.
Experts say it is extremely rare for such a powerful storm to form so early in the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from early June to late November.
It is the first hurricane to reach Category 4 status since NHC data began in June, and the first hurricane to reach Category 5 status in July.
“There have only been five major hurricanes (Category 3+) recorded in the Atlantic Ocean before the first week of July,” hurricane expert Michael Lowry posted on the social media platform X.
Barbados appeared to be spared the worst of the storm, but still struggled with high winds and torrential rain. So far, however, authorities have reported no injuries.
Barbados appears to have “escaped the impact,” Interior and Information Minister Wilfred Abrahams said in an online video, but despite this, “gusts of wind and gale force winds are still coming,” he said.
Homes and businesses were flooded in some areas and fishing boats were damaged in Bridgetown.
The storm forced the cancellation of classes on several islands on Monday, while a meeting of the Caribbean regional bloc CARICOM this week in Grenada was postponed.
Jamaica has issued a hurricane warning ahead of the storm's expected arrival on Wednesday. The NHC also warned the Cayman Islands and areas in the Yucatan Peninsula to monitor the storm's progress.
Extreme weather
A hurricane of Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale is considered a major hurricane.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in late May that it expects this year to be an “exceptional” hurricane season, with the possible production of seven Category 3 or higher storms.
The agency cited warm temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean and conditions associated with the La Niña weather phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean as reasons for the expected increase in storms.
Extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, have become more frequent in recent years and are having increasingly devastating consequences due to climate change.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Our staff and is published via a syndicated feed.)
