Hurricane Beryl slammed into Carriacou island on Monday as a Category 4 storm, destroying doors, windows and roofs of homes across southeastern Carriacou. But no deaths or injuries have been reported, although communications in the region are largely down. The last powerful hurricane to hit the southeastern Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens in Grenada.
It had sustained sustained winds of 150 mph (240 kph), just shy of a Category 5 hurricane. Shoes, trees, downed power lines, and much other debris were strewn across roads from St. Lucia to southern Grenada. Beryl was moving west-northwest at 21 mph (33 kph) and was located about 575 miles (925 km) east-southeast of Beata Island in the Dominican Republic. Beryl could cause hurricane conditions in Jamaica on Wednesday.
Beryl began moving into the Caribbean late Thursday on a path from just south of Jamaica toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, but was still bearing down on the southeastern Caribbean as of late Monday afternoon as a Category 1 hurricane.
A hurricane warning was issued for Jamaica and a tropical storm watch was in effect for the entire southern coast of Hispaniola, which straddles Haiti and the Dominican Republic. “Beryl is expected to remain an extremely dangerous major hurricane as it moves through the eastern Caribbean,” the National Hurricane Center said.
Additionally, Grenada’s National Disaster Coordinator, Terence Walters, said authorities received reports of devastating damage from Carriacou and surrounding islands on Monday.
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said he would travel to Carriacou as soon as it was safe, noting that a massive storm surge was occurring. He said damage to the hospital’s roof had forced Grenadian authorities to evacuate patients to lower floors. “The damage could be worse,” he told reporters. “We have no choice but to continue praying.”
Home Affairs and Information Minister Wilfred Abrahams said that once Beryl had passed, drones would be used to assess the damage, which would be faster than crews patrolling the island.
Experts say Beryl has formed a new eye, or center, which typically weakens a storm slightly as it expands, but it is now strengthening again. A historic hurricane, Beryl strengthened from a tropical storm to a major hurricane in just 42 hours, a feat that has only been accomplished six times in Atlantic hurricane history, with the earliest date being September 1, hurricane expert Sam Lillo said. It is also the fastest Category 4 Atlantic hurricane on record, beating Hurricane Dennis, which became a Category 4 storm on July 8, 2005.
Hurricane and storm surge expert Michael Lawrie said Beryl strengthened from record-warm waters, with ocean temperatures now warmer than they are at the peak of hurricane season in September. Philip Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University, said Beryl was the easternmost tropical Atlantic hurricane to form in June, breaking a record set in 1933.
(With input from AP)
