With destructive winds and storm surge fueled by the Atlantic’s record warmth, Hurricane Beryl tore off doors, windows, and roofs from homes throughout the Southeast Caribbean, eventually strengthening to Category 5 status.
After Beryl became the first Atlantic Category 4 storm to make landfall on the island of Carriacou in Grenada, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported late Monday (local time) that the storm’s winds had climbed to 260 km/h. As the hurricane moved farther into the Caribbean, there was probably going to be fluctuations in its strength in the upcoming days.
The situation on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, where there were initial reports of significant damage but communications were mainly down, had not allowed authorities to assess the situation, according to Grenada’s prime minister Dickon Mitchell, who stated that one person had died and that he could not yet say if there were other fatalities.
“We do hope there aren’t any other fatalities or any injuries,” he stated. “But keep in mind the difficulty” we have in Carriacou and Petite Martinique.”
Mitchell added that the government will send people first thing Tuesday morning to evaluate the situation on the islands.
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.
Vichelle Clark King, looking at her destroyed store in the sand- and water-filled Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, remarked, “Right now, I’m real heartbroken.”
By late Monday, Beryl was still sweeping the southeast Caribbean. By late Thursday, it had strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane and was moving into the Caribbean Sea, just south of Jamaica and into the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
Beryl was traveling 33 km/h to the west-northwest at an estimated 825 km east-southeast of Isla Beata in the Dominican Republic. There was a tropical storm warning for the southern coast of Hispaniola, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and a hurricane alert for Jamaica.
As Beryl made its way toward the central Caribbean and passed close to Jamaica on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center warned that while there will likely be fluctuations, it was forecast to maintain major hurricane intensity.
Twenty years ago, Hurricane Ivan devastated the southeast Caribbean, killing hundreds of people in Grenada.
Terence Walters, Grenada’s national disaster coordinator, stated that authorities received “reports of devastation” from Carriacou and other islands on Monday afternoon. Mitchell stated there has been a “extensive” storm surge and that he would visit Carriacou as soon as it is safe.
The hospital’s roof was damaged, so Grenadan officials had to move patients to a lower floor, he said.
He informed reporters that “there is the likelihood of even greater damage.” “We have no choice but to continue to pray.”
The minister of home affairs and information in Barbados, Wilfred Abrahams, stated that drones, which move more quickly than teams swarming the island, will evaluate the damage once Beryl passed.
Thousands of people traveled to Barbados for Saturday’s Twenty20 World Cup cricket final, including Jaswinderpal Parmar of Fresno, California. He and his family, along with many other fans, were left detained there after their flights were canceled on Sunday.
He stated over the phone that this is the first hurricane he has ever encountered. He and his family have been in prayer, and they have been fielding calls from worried relatives as far away as India.
Parmar added, “Last night, we couldn’t sleep.”
Historic hurricane
Hurricane researcher Sam Lillo notes that Beryl strengthened from a tropical depression to a major hurricane in just 42 hours, a feat only accomplished by six earlier Atlantic hurricanes, with September 1st being the previous earliest date.
In addition, it was the first Atlantic hurricane to reach Category 4 status, surpassing Hurricane Dennis, which attained this status on July 8, 2005.
According to Michael Lowry, a hurricane specialist and storm surge expert, Beryl gathered strength from record warm waters that are hotter now than they would be in September, when hurricane season peaks.
As far east as a hurricane has formed in the tropical Atlantic in June, Beryl broke a record set in 1933, according to Philip Klotzbach, a hurricane expert at Colorado State University.
The Atlantic hurricane season, which spans from June 1 to November 30, has Beryl as its second named storm. Four people were murdered when Tropical Storm Alberto made landfall in northeastern Mexico earlier this month.
Tropical Storm with a brief lifespan Chris had developed on Sunday night close to eastern Mexico, but on Monday it reverted to a depression. Although less organized late on Monday, a group of thunderstorms in the western Atlantic that mirrored Beryl’s route had a remote potential of developing into a named storm in the following days.
With between 17 and 25 named storms, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projected that the 2024 hurricane season will likely be well above average. Up to 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes were predicted.
Seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes are produced during an average Atlantic hurricane season, out of 14 named storms.
