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KINGSTON (Reuters) – Hurricane Beryl was barreling toward the Cayman Islands and Mexico on Thursday after lashing Jamaica with winds and rain that caused widespread flooding and power outages and left a deadly trail of destruction on several small Caribbean islands.
Beryl has so far left at least 10 people dead, but that number is expected to rise as communications are restored on islands devastated by flooding and strong winds.
Beryl’s eye skirted Jamaica’s southern coast, lashing communities as a powerful Category 4 storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale as emergency workers evacuated people from flood-prone areas.
“It’s terrible. Everything is gone. I’m in my house and I’m scared,” said Amoy Wellington, a 51-year-old cashier who lives in a rural farming community in the southern parish of St. Elizabeth. “It’s a disaster.”
Beryl moved away from Jamaica early Thursday. At around 0900 GMT, the hurricane, already a Category 3 storm, was 90 kilometres (56 miles) from Grand Cayman and about 700 kilometres (430 miles) from Tulum, Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Beryl had maximum winds of 130 mph (209 kph) and was expected to dump 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) of rain on the Cayman Islands, where life-threatening surf and rip currents were possible, the NHC said.
A hurricane warning was in effect for the east coast of the Cayman Islands off the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.
The resorts of Cancun and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula are in Beryl’s projected path. Cancun’s airport was packed with tourists hoping to catch the last flights before the storm hit. Workers filled bags with sand and boarded up the doors and windows of businesses for protection.
Mexico’s Defense Ministry has opened about 120 storm shelters and asked visitors to heed instructions on evacuation or other measures.
Beryl is the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season and, at its peak earlier this week, was the earliest Category 5 storm on record. A Category 5 hurricane brings winds of 157 mph (252 kph) or higher, capable of causing catastrophic damage, including the destruction of homes and infrastructure.
JAMAICA AND THE SMALL ISLANDS
In Jamaica, the island’s main airports were closed and streets were virtually empty after Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared a curfew for Wednesday, which was extended until Thursday as storm conditions persisted. At least one person was reported dead as a result of the storm.
Nearly 1,000 people were in shelters Wednesday night, Richard Thompson, acting director general of Jamaica’s disaster agency, said in an interview on local news.
The storm hit St Vincent and the Grenadines earlier this week. Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said in a radio interview that Union Island was “devastated” and that “it will be a Herculean effort to rebuild it.”
There were at least three confirmed deaths and widespread damage to crops, senior officials told Reuters. On Union Island, more than 90 percent of buildings were destroyed.
In Grenada, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell described “Armageddon-like” conditions after the storm hit earlier in the week, with no power and widespread destruction, while confirming three deaths.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro told state television that three people had died, four were missing and more than 8,000 homes were damaged.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has forecast a large number of major hurricanes in an “extraordinary” season this year, which will run from early June to late November.
Beryl’s destructive power, arriving so early in hurricane season, underscores the consequences of a warmer Atlantic Ocean, which scientists cite as a sign of human-caused climate change fueling extreme weather.