Hurricane Beryl, a powerful Category 4 storm, forecast to bring life-threatening conditions to Jamaica
Hurricane Beryl was tearing through the Caribbean as a powerful Category 4 storm Tuesday. After destroying homes and businesses across the southeastern Caribbean on Monday, it is now forecast to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge to Jamaica.
Beryl was forecast to "weaken during the next day or two" but could still be at or near major hurricane strength when it passes near or over Jamaica early Wednesday and near or over the Cayman Islands on Wednesday night or Thursday morning, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It is forecast to approach Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula Thursday night.
"I am encouraging all Jamaicans to take the hurricane as a serious threat," Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in a public address late Monday. "It is, however, not a time to panic."
As of Tuesday evening, Beryl was about 125 miles southeast of Isla Beata in the Dominican Republic and 420 miles southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. It was moving northwest at 22 mph.
And despite weakening, it is expected to still be a hurricane when it reaches the Yucatan Peninsula, the hurricane center said.
What category is Hurricane Beryl?
Beryl made landfall on the island of Carriacou in Grenada on Monday as the earliest Category 4 storm in the Atlantic, then late in the day the center said its winds had increased to Category 5 strength, meaning it had winds of 157 mph or higher. As of Tuesday evening, Beryl was a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph, the center said.
A major hurricane is considered a Category 3 or higher, with winds of at least 111 mph.
The hurricane center said Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Haiti were likely to see heavy rainfall and life-threatening flash flooding, with up to 12 inches of rain possible in some areas.
National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said Jamaica appears to be in the direct path of Beryl.
"We are most concerned about Jamaica, where we are expecting the core of a major hurricane to pass near or over the island," he said in an online briefing. "You want to be in a safe place where you can ride out the storm by nightfall (Tuesday). Be prepared to stay in that location through Wednesday."
Beryl was the earliest Category 5 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin and was only the second Category 5 storm recorded in July since 2005, according to the hurricane center.
Beryl leaves trail of damage, destruction
Three people were reported killed in Grenada and Carriacou and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said. Two other deaths were reported in northern Venezuela, where five people are missing, officials said. Some 25,000 people in that area also were affected by heavy rainfall from Beryl.
One fatality in Grenada occurred after a tree fell on a house, Kerryne James, minister of climate resilience, environment and renewable energy, told The Associated Press.
She said the nearby islands of Carriacou and Petit Martinique sustained the greatest damage, with water, food and baby formula a priority. Beryl flattened scores of homes and businesses in Carriacou.
"The situation is grim," Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell told a news conference Tuesday. "There is no power, and there is almost complete destruction of homes and buildings on the island. The roads are not passable, and in many instances they are cut off because of the large quantity of debris strewn all over the streets."
Mitchell added: "The possibility that there may be more fatalities remains a grim reality as movement is still highly restricted."
Streets from St. Lucia island south to Grenada were strewn with shoes, trees, downed power lines and other debris. Banana trees were snapped in half and cows lay dead in green pastures with homes made of tin and plywood tilting precariously nearby.
Hundreds of people hunkered in shelters across the southeast Caribbean, including 50 adults and 20 children who huddled inside a school in Grenada.
"Maybe some of them thought they could have survived in their homes, but when they realized the severity of it … they came for cover," said Urban Mason, a retired teacher who served as the shelter's manager. "People tend to be complacent."
Meanwhile, Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, promised to rebuild the archipelago in a statement early Tuesday. He noted that 90% of homes on Union Island were destroyed, and that "similar levels of devastation" were expected on the islands of Myreau and Canouan.
In Barbados, Wilfred Abrahams, minister of home affairs and information, said drones — which are faster than crews fanning across the island — would assess damage once Beryl passed.
A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, and a hurricane watch was posted for the southern coast of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Anse d'Hainault. A tropical storm warning was in place for the southern coast of the Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque westward to the border with Haiti, and the southern coast of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Anse d'Hainault.
"Remain in place through the passage of these life-threatening conditions and do not venture out in the eye of the storm," the hurricane center warned people in the storm's path.
Historic hurricane
It took Beryl only 42 hours to strengthen from a tropical depression to a major hurricane — a feat accomplished only six other times in Atlantic hurricane history, and with Sept. 1 as the earliest date, according to hurricane expert Sam Lillo.
Beryl became the third Category 3 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic in June, following Audrey in 1957 and Alma in 1966, hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry said.
"Beryl is an extremely dangerous and rare hurricane for this time of year in this area," he told the AP in a phone interview earlier this week. "Unusual is an understatement," he said, calling Beryl historic.
Hurricane Ivan in 2004 was the last strongest hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean, causing catastrophic damage in Grenada as a Category 3 storm.
"So this is a serious threat, a very serious threat," Lowry said of Beryl.
Beryl is the second named storm in what is predicted to be a busy hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 in the Atlantic. Last week, Tropical Storm Alberto brought torrential flooding to portions of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. It was responsible for at least four deaths in the Mexican states of Nuevo Leon and Veracruz.
According to CBS News weather producer David Parkinson, Beryl is the farthest east a hurricane has formed in June, and one of only two to do so east of the Caribbean, with the other instance occurring in 1933. Parkinson expects Beryl to remain south of Jamaica, and forecasts that any U.S. impacts are still at least eight days away.
Warm waters are fueling Beryl, with ocean heat content in the deep Atlantic the highest on record for this time of year, according to Brian McNoldy, University of Miami tropical meteorology researcher.
