Much of the southeast Caribbean was yesterday on alert as Beryl strengthened into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, with forecasters warning it would swiftly become a major storm.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that Beryl — which was churning in the Atlantic Ocean about 850km east of Barbados — was expected to bring “life-threatening winds and storm surge” when it reached the Windward Islands early today.
Warning that the storm was “getting stronger,” the NHC forecast it would become a “dangerous major hurricane” by the time it hit Caribbean communities.
Photo: AFP
Barbados, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada were all under hurricane warnings, while tropical storm warnings or watches were in effect for Martinique, Tobago and Dominica, the NHC said in its latest advisory.
Vehicles were lined up at gas stations in the Barbadian capital, Bridgetown, while supermarkets and grocery stores were crowded with shoppers buying food, water and other supplies. Some households were already boarding up their properties.
A major hurricane is considered a Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with winds of at least 179kph.
Such a powerful storm forming this early in the Atlantic hurricane season — which runs from early June to late November — is extremely rare, experts said.
“Only five major [Category 3+] hurricanes have been recorded in the Atlantic before the first week of July. Beryl would be the sixth and earliest this far east in the tropical Atlantic,” hurricane expert Michael Lowry wrote on X.
The NHC said that as of 2am yesterday, Beryl’s maximum sustained winds had increased to nearly 145kph with higher gusts.
“Hurricane conditions are expected in the hurricane warning area beginning early on Monday,” it said, warning of heavy rain, flooding and storm surge that could raise water levels as much as 2.1m above normal.
“Devastating wind damage is expected where the eyewall of Beryl moves through portions of the Windward Islands,” the NHC said, indicating wind speeds in some areas could be 30 percent stronger than those listed in their advisory.
The Saffir-Simpson wind scale designates Category 1 hurricanes as having wind speeds of at least 119kph, up to Category 5 storms with winds of 253kph or higher.
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