Hurricane Beryl is churning towards Jamaica as a Category 5 storm after making landfall in the Windward Islands, bringing devastating winds and storm surges.
The storm continues to beat even more records, as on Monday, it was recorded as the earliest-ever Category 4 hurricane, and has now also become the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record in the Atlantic.
Beryl brought deadly conditions to the Grenadine Islands, Carriacou Island and Grenada on Monday, killing at least one person.
Officials received “widespread reports of destruction and devastation in Carriacou and Petite Martinique,” Grenada prime minister Dickon Mitchell said.
“In half an hour, Carriacou was flattened.”
Beryl is now only the second storm on record to reach the intensity of Category 5 in July, after Emily did so in 2005.
Earlier on Sunday, it became the earliest storm to reach Category 4 and the first ever to do so in June.
The hurricane was downgraded Sunday evening to a Category 3, but picked up power and speed over warm ocean water and was upgraded to Category 4 on Monday morning.
“Fluctuations in strength are likely during the next day or so, but Beryl is expected to still be near major hurricane intensity as it moves into the central Caribbean and passes near Jamaica on Wednesday”, the NHC said.
The hurricane will continue to move toward Jamaica, reaching near the island on Wednesday. Even if Beryl doesn’t make a direct landfall in Jamaica, it will be close enough to heavy rainfall and wind gusts.
Earlier on Monday,the NHC urged residents across the Caribbean islands to listen to their local governments and emergency management teams for any preparedness and/or evacuation orders.
Officials say they received “widespread reports of destruction”.
Streets from St Lucia island south to Grenada were strewn with shoes, trees, downed power lines and other debris.
Mr Mitchell said one person had died and he could not yet say if there were other fatalities.
“We do hope there aren’t any other fatalities or any injuries,” he said. “But bear in mind the challenge we have in Carriacou and Petite Martinique.”
Authorities have not yet been able to assess the situation on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, where there were initial reports of major damage but communications were largely down, he said.
With the hurricane hitting Saint Vincent and the Grenadines over the carnival weekend, prime minister Ralph Gonsalves on Sunday urged residents to postpone their festivities and prepare for Beryl to hit.
Mr Gonsalves has already ordered the early closure of bars and postponed some carnival events, according to Loop News.
Airports were also shuttered including in Barbados, Grenada, and Saint Lucia on Sunday night in preparation for the storm.
The storm is expected to remain a major hurricane as it moves through the Caribbean, with Tropical Storm watches in effect for portions of the southern coast of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
A computer model of Hurricane Beryl’s many possible paths, known as a “spaghetti” model, showed the direction the destructive storm could take as it moved towards the southeastern US in bathtub-warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
The model showed the storm potentially blowing into the Gulf Coast, near eastern Texas and Louisiana.
However, meteorologists will not be able to make a definitive call about Hurricane Beryl’s
Global heating, caused by burning coal, oil and gas, has been increasing temperatures on land and the ocean. Warmer ocean waters fuel hurricanes. The area where Beryl is located, ocean temperatures are 2 to 3 degrees above normal for this time of the year, the levels that aren’t typically seen until September.