After downing power lines, damaging homes, and flooding streets on other southeastern Caribbean islands, Hurricane Beryl has strengthened into a Category 5 storm that the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) of the United States said could be “potentially catastrophic.” The storm is now headed towards Jamaica.
Beryl, the first-ever recorded Category 4 storm, touched down earlier on Monday on the Grenadan island of Carriacou.
At 11:00 p.m. (03:00 GMT), the NHS announced in a bulletin that “Beryl is now a potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.” “Strong fluctuations are probably… However, as Beryl moves across the Caribbean, it is anticipated to maintain intensity close to that of a major hurricane.
Early in the day, the storm’s “extremely dangerous eyewall,” which had sustained winds of up to 240 km/h (150 mph), directly struck Carriacou, according to the NHC.
According to the hurricane centre, nearby islands Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines also saw “catastrophic winds and life-threatening storm surge.”
“Hurricane Beryl intensifies into a storm that could be “catastrophic.””
“Carriacou was flattened in half an hour,” Grenada’s prime minister, Dickon Mitchell, declared at a press conference. He reported that one person had passed away, but communications had been cut off to the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, so authorities had not yet had a chance to evaluate the situation there.
He remarked, “We really hope there aren’t any more fatalities or injuries.” “But keep in mind the difficulties we face in Petite Martinique and Carriacou.” Mitchell said that in order to assess the situation on the islands, the government will dispatch personnel early on Tuesday.
Shoes, trees, downed power lines, and other debris littered the streets from St. Lucia island south to Grenada. The wind’s force broke several banana trees in half. Vichelle Clark King, surveying her sand and water-filled store in Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, said, “Right now, I’m real heartbroken.” The hurricane centre located in Miami stated that the storm is anticipated to pass close to Jamaica on Wednesday.
(Al Jazeera)
