Beryl is still expected to become a major hurricane, Category 3 or higher, as it strikes the southern coast of Jamaica, with the hurricane center writing that it is “expected to bring devastating hurricane-force winds, life-threatening storm surge and destructive waves.”
Grenadian authorities were struggling Tuesday to assess the extent of the damage, particularly on the smaller, hard-hit islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, where roads were impassable and rough seas made it impossible for the coast guard to access them.
Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said at least three people had died and that the death toll was likely to rise was a “harsh reality.”
He said he first had contact with officials on Carriacou on Tuesday morning, and only briefly by satellite phone.
“We as a nation are dealing with the devastation on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique,” Governor Mitchell said at a news conference. “The situation is dire. There is no power. Homes and buildings are almost completely destroyed.”
He said many gas stations had been damaged on the smaller islands and that access to fuel was “difficult at the best of times,” leaving heavy machinery without the fuel it needs to clear snow from roads. A hospital on Carriacou was also damaged.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said Monday night that the hurricane had caused extensive damage to homes, schools and churches in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, leaving behind “untold destruction, pain and suffering.”
Gonsalves said there were reports of one death but no details. “The death toll could rise,” he said in his speech. “We don’t know yet.”
He said at least 90 percent of homes and businesses on Union Island in the southern Grenadines had been destroyed or damaged, including the airport.
In Jamaica, government offices and universities were closed on Tuesday as the storm approached. Authorities urged residents to stock up on supplies and other necessities and urged those in low-lying areas and those at risk of flooding to seek shelter.
“I call on all Jamaicans to take the hurricane as a serious threat,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in a statement, “but this is not the time to panic. It is time for us to take a strategic and calculated approach.”
Carlton Darien, membership chairman for the Jamaica Red Cross in St. Elizabeth, a large parish in southwest Jamaica, said the agency had ambulances and drivers on standby and evacuation centres were being prepared.
“We’re just hoping for the best,” Darien told The Washington Post, “but we’re still prepared.”
Beryl’s surprising strength came against a backdrop of favorable weather and man-made climate warming: Slower high-altitude winds, more air aloft, and the presence of a leading tropical wave all contributed to hurricane formation, but record ocean temperatures reminiscent of September helped transform the storm into a top-tier storm.
There is a strong, well-documented link between the effects of human-induced climate change and the occurrence of stronger, wetter storms that tend to intensify more quickly. Beryl went from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane in just 48 hours, the fastest intensification of any storm on record before September.
Meteorologists expect the remainder of the 2024 hurricane season to be very or unusually active. Weak winds aloft make storms more likely to form, but winds are rising widely across the Atlantic. Both of these factors are linked to the emergence of the La Niña weather system. Combined with red-hot sea surface temperatures that are 2 to 4 degrees above average, it’s no surprise to expect more storms, and more intense storms, in the coming months.
Mitchell said Grenada had experienced a “traumatic event” in its history that was “overwhelming evidence” of the threat climate change poses to small island nations.
“When we talk to the countries that have created this climate crisis based on the burning of fossil fuels, we get another clear and overwhelming piece of evidence that our way of life faces a constant existential threat,” he said. “So we want them to not just talk the talk, but to realize that we actually need resources to build our resilience and sustainability against this constant threat that they’ve created.”
Beryl’s current location and future plans
As of 5:00 pm ET on Tuesday, the center of Hurricane Beryl is located 125 miles southeast of Beata Island in the Dominican Republic. It is also 420 miles away from Kingstown, Jamaica. The storm is moving west-northwest at 22 mph.
Tropical storm warnings are in effect until Wednesday morning for the southern coasts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where the storm is passing. Between 4 and 8 inches of rain are expected across the western peninsula of southern Haiti and the Barahona Peninsula in the southwestern Dominican Republic, which could cause flash flooding.
Beryl is expected to hit Jamaica on Wednesday, with its center moving dangerously close to the island’s southern coast and passing the Cayman Islands Wednesday night into Thursday. Localized rainfall of up to 12 inches is expected in Jamaica, which could cause flooding. Sea level rise could also cause water levels to rise by 5 to 8 feet on normally dry land along Jamaica’s southern coast.
Beryl could become a major hurricane (Category 3 or higher), the third on record to come within 100 miles of Jamaica in July.
The storm is expected to remain hurricane-force as it strikes Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula later this week, with wind gusts reaching 90 to 100 mph near the coast where the eyewall meets land, which could bring a storm surge of 3 to 6 feet onto land.
Once the storm moves into the warm waters of the southwestern Gulf of Mexico by Friday evening, conditions could be favorable for it to strengthen again.
Beryl could pose a threat to the Mexican states of Tamaulipas and Veracruz, as well as the southern tip of Texas, by the end of the weekend or early next week. The storm could also strengthen and move north across the Gulf of Mexico, putting areas farther north along the Texas coast and coastal Louisiana at risk early next week.
Jason Samenow contributed to this report.
