Beryl, the dangerous Category 4 hurricane, is moving towards Jamaicawhere it will arrive at noon at the height of a major cyclone, before moving towards Mexico and Belize, according to the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC).
The first hurricane of the Atlantic season remains a dangerous system with maximum sustained winds of 230 kilometers per hour (145 miles), according to the latest NHC bulletin.
The cyclone, which is threatening the central Caribbean with storm surge and destructive winds, is located 200 kilometres (125 miles) southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and 690 kilometres (430 miles) east-southeast of Grand Cayman.
Alert in Jamaica
In addition to Jamaica, the hurricane warning also includes the Cayman Islands, the southern coast of Haiti and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
Tropical storm warnings are also in effect for the southern coast of the Dominican Republic, from Punta Palenque west to the border with Haiti, and from there extending to the Haitian town of Anse d’Hainault. The warning also includes the coast of Belize from that town to south of Chetumal.
Beryl is expected to move rapidly across the central Caribbean at 20 miles (31 kilometers) per hour (31 kilometers per hour) in a northwesterly direction. Beryl’s eye, the earliest Category 4 hurricane on record this season, made landfall Monday over Cariobacu Island in the Windward Islands and wreaked havoc on several of the Windward Islands.
The NHC is forecasting some weakening today or tomorrow, Thursday, but Beryl will be a major cyclone or near hurricane strength as it passes near Jamaica later today and the Cayman Islands tonight or early Thursday.
Additionally, forecasters expect further weakening, although Beryl is forecast to remain a hurricane in the northwestern Caribbean.
Three named tropical storms have formed so far during the Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1: Alberto, Beryl and Chris.
Chris formed last Sunday in the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall overnight in the town of Lechuguillas, a town in the southern Mexican state of Veracruz.
Dominican Republic on alert for indirect effects of Hurricane Beryl
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2024-07-07 04:13:53
