Beryl hit the Caribbean islands as a category 5 hurricane, the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale, leaving massive destruction. At least four people died, the Guardian reported. Now the element is heading towards Jamaica. The winds that accompany it reach average speeds of up to 260 kilometers per hour.
Beryl is heading towards Jamaica as a category 5 hurricane, the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale. When it was 6 p.m. here, the element was 895 kilometers from Kingston, the capital of that country. According to the American National Hurricane Center (NHC), Beryl will hit Jamaica on Wednesday around 8 a.m. local time (in Poland it will be 3 p.m. on Wednesday).
On Monday, the hurricane hit Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, leaving many households without power. At least four people died on the Caribbean islands, the Guardian reported. It added that Beryl caused “terrible destruction” there.
The earliest in history
Beryl, a Category 5 hurricane, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC), is packing average winds of up to 260 kilometers per hour.
“This is the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record to form in the Atlantic,” World Meteorological Organization (WMO) spokeswoman Clare Nullis said Tuesday. “We have to remember that even one hurricane that makes landfall can set back a country’s development by decades,” she added. “The element sets the tone for a ‘very dangerous’ hurricane season,” she said.
The predicted path of Hurricane BerylNHC
Beryl na BarbadosiePAP/EPA/BARBADOS GOVERNMENT HANDOUT
Massive destruction
The storm hit Carriacou, a Grenadian island in the Caribbean Sea in the Windward Islands archipelago, at regarding 11 a.m. ET Monday. The storm caused power outages there. Heavy rain flooded roads.
– In half an hour, the island of Carriacou was leveled to the ground – said Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell. According to government data, on Grenada alone, the country’s largest island, the hurricane caused power outages to 95 percent of customers. Cellular networks are down, most residents have no access to the network. All businesses and public utilities have been closed.
– There is no electricity, buildings on the island are almost completely destroyed. Roads are impassable and in many cases are cut off due to the large amount of debris strewn across the streets, Mitchell said. “The state of emergency is still in effect. Stay home,” he wrote on Facebook.
In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves spoke of “pain and suffering” across the country and praised the resilience of residents in the face of tragedy. He told reporters: “Beryl came and went, leaving behind a huge amount of destruction.”
“Hurricanes don’t care what month it is”
As meteorologists have noted, it is very rare for a Category 4 storm to form in early July. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, with stronger storms typically occurring later in the month. On Sunday, Beryl became the earliest Category 4 hurricane on record, surpassing Hurricane Dennis, which formed on July 8, 2005.
As Jim Kossin of the First Street Foundation explained to CNN, Beryl is breaking records because the ocean is now as warm as it usually is during the peak of hurricane season.
“Hurricanes don’t care what month it is, they care what their surroundings are,” he said. “Beryl breaks records in June because she thinks it’s September,” he added.
Floods, strong winds
Hurricane warnings were in effect Monday for Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Tobago. A tropical storm warning was issued for Martinique and Trinidad, as well as parts of the Dominican Republic and parts of Haiti. Authorities in Trinidad and Tobago opened shelters for the public, canceled schools Monday and asked hospitals to postpone planned surgeries. In St. Vincent and Barbados, residents boarded up windows, filled their cars and stocked up on food and water.
Scientists at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are expecting a larger than average number of hurricanes and storms this year. Forecasters are expecting more than 17 severe storms, 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.
CNN, PAP, Reuters, NOAA, The Guardian
Main image source: Reuters