A boy removes rocks from a flooded street after Hurricane Beryl passed in St. James Parish, Barbados, near Bridgetown, Barbados on July 1, 2024.
Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty Images
Hurricane Beryl hit Jamaica on Wednesday, bringing strong winds and heavy rains after the powerful Category 4 storm earlier killed at least six people and caused extensive damage in the southeastern Caribbean.
The US National Hurricane Center said the eye of Hurricane Beryl was “touching the southern coast of Jamaica.”
Heavy rains accompanied by winds continued to batter the island for hours, as residents heeded authorities' calls to take shelter until the storm passed. Power was cut off in most parts of the capital.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness said Wednesday afternoon that nearly 500 people had been placed in shelters.
“We are focused on ensuring their comfort and well-being,” he said in a social media post.
Before Beryl arrived in Kingston, people had boarded up their windows, fishermen were pulling their boats out of the water, and workers were dismantling roadside billboards to protect them from the strong winds.
Kingston resident Pauline Lynch said she had stocked up on food and water in anticipation of the storm. As the winds and rains lashed the island, Lynch said, “I have no control over what’s going to happen, so I just have to pray that all Jamaicans are safe and that we don’t have any deaths or damage.”
By midday, the winds had already begun to blow in the capital, turning the sea into white, rough waves as Beryl's eye scratched the island's southern coast.
“We are very concerned about a wide range of life-threatening impacts in Jamaica,” said John Porter, AccuWeather’s chief meteorologist, including severe storm surges, high winds and flash flooding.
Hurricane Beryl “is the strongest and most dangerous hurricane threat Jamaica has faced, probably, in decades,” Porter said.
A hurricane warning has been issued for Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. Beryl is expected to weaken slightly over the next couple of days, but will remain at or near major hurricane strength as it passes near or over Jamaica on Wednesday, near the Cayman Islands on Thursday and over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
Jamaica was in a state of emergency after the island was declared a disaster area hours before Hurricane Beryl made landfall.
Holness said the disaster declaration would remain in effect for the next seven days. He also announced an island-wide curfew between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Holness warned that security forces “will be fully mobilized to maintain public order and assist with disaster relief. Once the cyclone passes, security forces have put in place strategic plans to address any potential threat of looting or other opportunistic crimes.”
Evacuation orders have also been issued for communities across Jamaica that are vulnerable to flooding and landslides. Holness urged Jamaicans to stay away from low-lying areas.
A hurricane warning was in effect for the southern coast of Haiti and the eastern coast of the Yucatan. Belize also issued a tropical storm warning extending south from its border with Mexico to Belize City.
Floodwaters are seen after Hurricane Beryl passed over Bridgetown, Barbados, on July 1, 2024 in this screenshot obtained from a video on social media.
@geofflemonsport via X | via Reuters
Late Monday, Beryl became the first storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean and peaked at 165 mph (270 kph) winds on Tuesday before weakening to a devastating Category 4. On Wednesday, the storm's center was about 65 miles (100 kilometers) west-southwest of Kingston. It had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 20 mph (31 kph). Hurricane-force winds extended 45 miles from the center.
In Miami, Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said in an online briefing that people on the island should plan to stay safe throughout Wednesday as conditions only began to improve overnight.
Jamaica's southern coast, where Kingston is located, is expected to bear the brunt of Beryl's impact, with coastal water levels rising to 6 or 9 feet (1.8 to 2.7 meters) above normal tide levels in some areas.
Heavy rains, ranging from 4 to 8 inches and reaching a foot in isolated areas, threaten flash floods and mudslides on the mountainous island, he said.
Mexico's Caribbean coast was bracing for Hurricane Beryl on Wednesday. The government issued a hurricane warning for the Yucatan Peninsula coast from Puerto Costa Maya to Cancun.
Hurricane Beryl is expected to hit Mexico twice in a rare move, the head of Mexico’s civil defense agency said. Laura Velasquez said the hurricane was expected to make landfall late Thursday or early Friday along a relatively unpopulated stretch of the Caribbean coast between Tulum and the inland town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto. Because the coastline there is largely made up of lagoons and mangroves, there are few resorts or hotels in the area south of Tulum.
The hurricane is expected to weaken to a tropical storm as it crosses the Yucatan Peninsula and then reemerge at storm force over the weekend in the Gulf of Mexico. Velasquez said Beryl is expected to make a second landfall in the Gulf Coast states of Veracruz or Tamaulipas near the Texas border.
Hurricane Beryl is seen from space, on July 1, 2024, in this screenshot obtained from a video.
International Space Station | via Reuters
As Hurricane Beryl barreled through the Caribbean, rescue teams fanned out across the southeastern islands to assess the extent of the damage the hurricane had caused to Carriacou, an island in Grenada.
Officials said three people died in Grenada and Carriacou and one in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Officials said two more people died in northern Venezuela, where five people were missing. About 25,000 people in that region were affected by heavy rains from Hurricane Beryl.
One death in Grenada occurred after a tree fell on a house, Environment Minister Kerryn James told The Associated Press. Carriacou and Petite Martinique were the hardest hit, with dozens of homes and businesses destroyed in Carriacou, she said.
Grenada Prime Minister Deacon Mitchell said Tuesday there was no electricity, roads were impassable and the potential for a high death toll “remains a grim reality”.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has promised to rebuild the archipelago, noting that 90% of the homes on Union Island have been destroyed.
The last major hurricane to hit the southeastern Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada.
