Hurricane Beryl, now a Category 5 storm, has left a trail of immense destruction across the Caribbean, particularly devastating Union Island in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves reported that 90% of the homes on Union Island have been severely damaged or destroyed. “Union Island has been devastated,” Gonsalves stated during a press briefing. “The roofs are gone, including that of the Union Island airport.”
Union Island, a small landmass just 3 miles long and about a mile wide with roughly 3,000 residents, faced the full brunt of Hurricane Beryl. The storm, which escalated from a tropical depression to a major hurricane in less than two days, has been described by experts as extremely dangerous and rare. It initially made landfall as a Category 4 storm on the nearby Grenada island of Carriacou.
Beryl has since intensified, becoming the earliest Category 5 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin. Gonsalves described the hurricane as “dangerous” and “devastating,” noting that it left “immense destruction” in its wake.
In addition to Union Island, the island of Bequia also suffered damage, though not as extensively. At least one person has died, and Gonsalves warned that there might be more fatalities. “There’s still an island-wide blackout,” he said. “There are a few communities without water because the system has been blocked.”
The storm also caused damage in Barbados and Carriacou, part of Grenada. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that Beryl is expected to maintain near-major hurricane intensity as it moves into the central Caribbean, passing near Jamaica on Wednesday and the Cayman Islands on Thursday. “Storm surge could raise water levels by as much as 5 to 8 feet above normal tide levels in areas of onshore winds along the immediate coast of Jamaica,” the NHC stated.
Hurricane Beryl’s impact has been felt far and wide. In Grenada, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell reported “widespread destruction and devastation” in Carriacou and Petite Martinique. “In half an hour, Carriacou was flattened,” Mitchell said. While there were no immediate reports of death or injury in Grenada, Mitchell cautioned that the situation could change.
In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, hundreds of homes and buildings have been damaged. Parts of the country were left without water or electricity as of Monday night. “Hurricane Beryl left in its wake immense destruction, pain, and suffering across our nation,” Gonsalves said. Union Island, just north of Grenada, was particularly hard-hit, with 90% of the houses severely damaged or destroyed.
In Grenada, about 95% of the island lost power due to Hurricane Beryl, according to Neila K. Ettienne, press secretary for the office of the prime minister. Telecommunications across Grenada are down, and some individuals have lost internet service. All schools and businesses are closed, including the airport, with only hospitals and the national police force currently operational.
Beryl’s arrival marks an exceptionally early start to the Atlantic hurricane season. On Sunday, it became the earliest Category 4 hurricane on record in the Atlantic Ocean and the only Category 4 in the month of June. The abnormally warm ocean waters that facilitated Beryl’s alarming strengthening are a clear indicator that this hurricane season will be far from normal in a world warming due to fossil fuel pollution.
Jim Kossin, a hurricane expert and science advisor at the nonprofit First Street Foundation, explained that Beryl is breaking records because the ocean is as warm now as it would normally be at the peak of hurricane season. “Hurricanes don’t know what month it is; they only know what their ambient environment is,” Kossin said. “Beryl is breaking records for the month of June because Beryl thinks it’s September.” He added that the ocean heat fueling Beryl’s unprecedented strengthening “certainly has a human fingerprint on it.”
As of Monday evening, Beryl was located 510 miles east-southeast of Isla Beata in the Dominican Republic, with sustained winds of 160 mph and moving west-northwest at 22 mph. Beryl’s hurricane-force winds extend 40 miles from the center, while tropical-storm-force winds extend about 125 miles. The storm’s center is expected to move away from the southern Windward Islands Monday night and across the southeastern and central Caribbean Sea through Tuesday, passing near Jamaica on Wednesday.
A hurricane warning has been issued for Jamaica, with hurricane conditions expected to reach the coast by Wednesday. Tropical storm warnings are also in effect for the south coast of the Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque westward to the border with Haiti, and the south coast of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Anse-d’Hainault.
More than 400 people were housed in hurricane shelters across Barbados on Sunday night, according to the nation’s Chief Shelter Warden, Ramona Archer-Bradshaw. A state of emergency declared Sunday night by Grenadian Gov. General Cécile La Grenade will remain in effect until Tuesday morning. All businesses have closed except the police force, hospitals, prisons, waste disposal, and ports.
Airports in Barbados, Grenada, and Saint Lucia were closed Sunday night as Beryl approached. Grenada’s Maurice Bishop International Airport is expected to reopen Tuesday morning. The Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados and St. Lucia’s Hewanorra International and George Charles airports have also halted operations, with plans to resume on Tuesday.
Barbados is still hosting cricket fans from around the globe who traveled to the island for the T20 World Cup, some of whom are not scheduled to leave until Monday or Tuesday. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley urged residents to provide support for visitors, if possible.
Beryl’s long-term path remains uncertain. The hurricane will track generally west or northwest over the Caribbean Sea through Thursday and is expected to remain a major hurricane into midweek before losing some strength. Even so, the hurricane will remain formidable, with strong winds, torrential rain, and hazardous seas extending well beyond its center over much of the Caribbean. Beryl’s center could pass just south of Jamaica on Wednesday, bringing heavier impacts to the country even if it doesn’t make landfall there.
“Storm surge could raise water levels by as much as 3 to 5 feet above normal tide levels in areas of onshore winds along the immediate coast of Jamaica,” the NHC said.
Several days are likely to elapse between Beryl’s first landfall in the Windward Islands Monday and its next likely landfall on or around Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula around Friday morning. Large swells from the storm will continue in the Windward and southern Leeward Islands for the next couple of days. “Swells are also expected to reach the southern coasts of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola late tonight into Tuesday. These swells are expected to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” the NHC noted.
What happens after Beryl’s next landfall will determine if the cyclone can reach the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend. If Beryl survives its journey over land and reaches the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, it could spell trouble for northeast Mexico or possibly the US Gulf Coast.
This season is already off to a busy start as a second storm, Tropical Storm Chris, made landfall near Tuxpan, Mexico, off the Gulf Coast early Monday. Beryl’s record-shattering activity may be a sign of what’s to come in a hyperactive hurricane season.
Beryl is the earliest major hurricane in the Atlantic in 58 years. The storm’s rapid intensification is very atypical this early into hurricane season, according to National Hurricane Center Director Mike Brennan. It’s rare for tropical systems to form in the central Atlantic east of the Lesser Antilles in June, particularly strong ones, as only a handful of tropical systems have done so, according to NOAA records.
Beryl is now the Atlantic Ocean’s third-earliest major hurricane. The earliest was Hurricane Alma on June 8, 1966, followed by Hurricane Audrey, which reached major hurricane status on June 27, 1957. Beryl has also set the record for the easternmost hurricane to form in the Tropical Atlantic in June, beating a previous record set in 1933.
The central and eastern Atlantic traditionally become more active in August, in part because ocean temperatures have had time to warm and fuel developing systems. This year, however, the Atlantic basin has seen above-normal water temperatures and a lack of wind shear due to the transition from El Niño season to La Niña season, both of which are fuel for tropical development.
“Beryl has found an environment with very warm ocean waters for this time of year,” Brennan said. Systems forming this early in the summer in this part of the Atlantic are a sign of the hyperactive hurricane season to come, according to research from Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane expert and research scientist at Colorado State University. Normally, ocean temperatures aren’t warm enough in June and July to help tropical systems thrive.
National Weather Service forecasters predict 17 to 25 named storms this season, with as many as 13 of those becoming hurricanes. “That’s well above average,” Brennan noted.
Source: CBS News, CNN
