Hurricane Beryl upgraded to Category 5 as it thrashes southeastern Caribbean islands

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP) — Hurricane Beryl reached Category 5 late Monday after tearing off doors, windows and roofs from homes in the southeastern Caribbean with devastating winds and storm surge fueled by record-breaking Atlantic heat.

Beryl made landfall on the Grenada island of Carriacou as the earliest Category 4 storm in the Atlantic, then later in the day the National Hurricane Center in Miami said winds had increased to Category 5 strength. Fluctuations were forecast of strength and subsequently a significant weakening as the storm pushes further into the Caribbean in the coming days.

Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said one person had died and could not yet say if there were other deaths because authorities were unable to assess the situation on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, where there were initial reports of major damage, but communications. they were mostly down.

“We hope there will be no further deaths or injuries,” he said. “But keep in mind the challenge we have in Carriacou and Petite Martinique.” Mitchel added that the government would send people first thing on Tuesday morning to assess the situation on the islands.

Streets from the island of St. Lucia south to Grenada were littered with shoes, trees, downed power lines and other debris. Banana trees were cut in half and cows lay dead in green pastures, with tin and plywood houses leaning precariously nearby.

“Right now, I’m heartbroken,” said Vichelle Clark King as she surveyed her damaged shop in the Barbadian capital of Bridgetown, which was filled with sand and water.

Beryl was still moving across the southeastern Caribbean early Tuesday on a track headed just south of Jamaica and toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula by late Thursday as a Category 1 storm.

It reached Category 5 strength Monday evening and intensified further early Tuesday morning at 165 mph (270 km/h).

Beryl was about 445 miles (715 kilometers) east-southeast of Isla Beata in the Dominican Republic and moving west-northwest at 22 mph (35 km/h). A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and a tropical storm warning for the southern coast of Hispaniola, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Fluctuations were likely, but Beryl was expected to remain near major hurricane intensity as it moved into the central Caribbean and passed near Jamaica on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said. After that, a significant weakening was expected.

The last major hurricane to hit the southeastern Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada.

On Monday afternoon, officials received “reports of devastation” from Carriacou and surrounding islands, said Terence Walters, Grenada’s national disaster coordinator. Itchell said he would travel to Carriacou as soon as it was safe, noting there had been “extensive” storm surge.

Officials in Grenada had to evacuate patients to a lower floor after the hospital’s roof was damaged, he said.

“There is the likelihood of even greater damage,” he told reporters. “We have no choice but to keep praying.”

In Barbados, Wilfred Abrahams, the Home Affairs and Information Minister, said drones – which are faster than the crews that hunt the island – would assess the damage once Beryl passed.

Jaswinderpal Parmar of Fresno, California, who was among the thousands who traveled to Barbados for Saturday’s Twenty20 World Cup cricket final, said he and his family were stranded there with dozens of other fans after their flights were canceled on Sunday .

He said over the phone that this is the first time he’s faced a hurricane – he and his family have been praying, as well as receiving calls from worried friends and family, as far away as India.

“I couldn’t sleep last night,” Parmar said.

Historic hurricane

Beryl strengthened from a tropical depression to a major hurricane in just 42 hours, something only six other Atlantic hurricanes have done, with Sept. 1 as the previous earliest, according to hurricane expert Sam Lillo.

It was also the oldest Category 4 Atlantic hurricane, surpassing Hurricane Dennis, which became a Category 4 storm on July 8, 2005. Beryl later became the earliest Category 5 hurricane observed in the Atlantic basin, and only the second Category 5 hurricane in July. after Hurricane Emily in 2005. The National Hurricane Center said.

Beryl built up its strength from record warm waters that are warmer now than they would be at the height of the hurricane season in September, said hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry.

Beryl also marked the farthest east a hurricane formed in the tropical Atlantic in June, breaking a record set in 1933, according to Philip Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University.

Beryl is the second named storm in the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30. Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Alberto made landfall in northeastern Mexico, killing four people.

Short-lived Tropical Storm Chris formed near eastern Mexico late Sunday before weakening again to a depression on Monday. A group of storms mimicking Beryl’s path in the western Atlantic was less organized late Monday, but had a small chance of becoming a named storm over the next few days.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted that the 2024 hurricane season will likely be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast called for up to 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Lucanus Ollivierre, an Associated Press videographer from Kingstown, St. Vincent, contributed to this report.

Dánica Coto and Kofi Jones, Associated Press