Hurricane Beryl yesterday roared through open waters as a monstrous Category 5 storm on a path that would take it near Jamaica and the Cayman Islands after earlier making landfall in the southeast Caribbean, killing at least two people.
A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and a hurricane watch for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac.
Beryl was forecast to start losing intensity yesterday, but to still remain near major hurricane strength when it passes near Jamaica today, the Cayman Islands tomorrow and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, the US National Hurricane Center said.
Photo: AFP
Beryl is the earliest Category 5 storm ever to form in the Atlantic, fueled by record warm waters.
Early yesterday, it was located about 595km southeast of Isla Beata in the Dominican Republic. It had top winds of 270kph and was moving west-northwest at 35kph.
“Beryl remains an impressive Category 5 hurricane,” the center said.
A tropical storm warning was in place for the entire southern coast of Hispaniola, an island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
As the storm barreled through the Caribbean Sea, rescue crews in the southeast Caribbean fanned out across the region to determine the extent of the damage that Hurricane Beryl inflicted after landing on Carriacou, an island in Grenada, as a Category 4 storm.
One person was reported killed in Grenada and another in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said.
An emergency team was expected to travel to Carriacou yesterday morning.
“The situation requires our immediate attention, and all efforts must be made to support our sister islands,” Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said.
Meanwhile, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves promised to rebuild the archipelago in a statement early yesterday.
Ninety percent of homes on Union Island were destroyed, and that “similar levels of devastation” were expected on the islands of Myreau and Canouan, he said.
The last strong hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada.
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