Kingston: Hurricane Beryl steamed towards the Cayman Islands and Mexico on Thursday, after thrashing Jamaica with intense wind and rain, causing floods and power outages. The Category 4 hurricane carved a destructive path across smaller Caribbean islands over the past couple of days, leaving a death toll of at least 10 across the region, which is expected to rise as communications are restored on islands damaged by flooding and deadly winds.
As Beryl moved away from Jamaica early on Thursday, the island discontinued its hurricane warning but maintained a flash flood watch, according to the Meteorological Service of Jamaica on X (formerly Twitter). By late Wednesday, the storm’s eye was about 100 miles (161 km) west of Kingston, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC), as its core headed toward the Cayman Islands.
Packing maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour (209 kph), Beryl was expected to dump 4-6 inches (10-15 cm) of rain on the Cayman Islands into Thursday. A hurricane warning was in effect, and life-threatening surf and rip currents were possible, according to the NHC. A hurricane warning was also issued for the eastern coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. By 0900 GMT, the Category 3 hurricane was just 55 miles from Grand Cayman and about 440 miles off Tulum, Mexico, the NHC reported.
Jamaica
Beryl’s eyewall skirted Jamaica’s southern coast, pummeling communities as emergency groups evacuated people from flood-prone areas. “It’s terrible. Everything’s gone. I’m in my house and scared,” said Amoy Wellington, a 51-year-old cashier from Top Hill, a rural farming community in southern St. Elizabeth parish. “It’s a disaster.”
A woman died in Jamaica’s Hanover parish after a tree fell on her home, according to Richard Thompson, acting director general at Jamaica’s disaster agency, in an interview with local news. Nearly a thousand Jamaicans were in shelters by Wednesday evening, Thompson added. The island’s main airports were closed, and streets were mostly empty after Prime Minister Andrew Holness issued a curfew for Wednesday, which was extended Thursday as storm conditions continued.
Warming Ocean
The devastation caused by Beryl highlights the impact of a warmer Atlantic Ocean, which scientists attribute to human-caused climate change fueling extreme weather. Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, said in a radio interview that Union Island was “flattened” by Beryl, describing the effort to rebuild as “Herculean.” Nerissa Gittens-McMillan, permanent secretary at St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ agriculture ministry, warned on state media of possible food shortages after half the country’s plantain and banana crops were lost, along with significant losses to root crops and vegetables.
Power outages were widespread across Jamaica, and some coastal roads were washed out.
‘Armageddon-Like’
Confirmed fatalities included at least three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where Union Island suffered the destruction of more than 90% of buildings, according to a senior official. In Grenada, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell described “Armageddon-like” conditions with no power and widespread destruction, confirming three deaths. In Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro reported on state television that three people had died, four were missing, and over 8,000 homes were damaged.
Beryl is the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season and the earliest storm on record. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has forecast a significant number of major hurricanes in an “extraordinary” season this year.
In tourist epicenter Cancun, workers filled bags with sand and boarded up doors and windows of businesses for protection, with officials noting a dwindling supply of wooden boards. Laura Velazquez, head of Mexico’s civil protection agency, encouraged tourists in Cancun and nearby Tulum to hunker down in hotel basements as the storm approached, in comments to local broadcaster Milenio.
