Image source, Getty Images
A powerful hurricane has battered Jamaica with heavy winds and rain, damaging buildings and downing trees across the Caribbean island.
Category 4 storm Beryl, with maximum wind speeds of 130 mph (215 kph), battered the island’s southern coast.
Pictures posted on social media showed flooded roads and blown-up roofs.
At least seven people have been killed so far as the storm batters the Caribbean.
- author, Vanessa Buschschluter
- role, BBC News
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“It’s terrible. Everything is gone. I’m scared in my house,” Amoy Wellington, who lives in a rural area in the southern parish of St. Elizabeth, told Reuters. “It’s a disaster.”
A hurricane warning has been issued in Jamaica and authorities have imposed a curfew from 6am to 6pm local time (11am to 9pm GMT).
Prime Minister Andrew Holness earlier urged the public to “take this hurricane seriously”.
“If you live in low-lying areas, areas historically prone to flooding or landslides, or live on the banks of a river or ravine, we urge you to seek shelter or seek safer areas,” he said.
Three people were killed in Grenada, where the hurricane first made landfall on Monday, one in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and three more in northern Venezuela, where strong winds and flooding hit.
On Union Island, part of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, about 90 percent of homes were destroyed or severely damaged.
Power was previously cut in parts of Jamaica, and the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) said it had been forced to temporarily suspend work to restore power lines in some areas for the safety of its employees.
NHC Director Michael Brennan told a press conference that Jamaica would experience “devastating hurricane-force winds”.
He said parts of the country could get up to 12 inches (30 centimetres) of rain, causing flooding and landslides, and that a storm surge up to nine feet (2.7 metres) above tide levels could be life-threatening.
“Everyone in Jamaica needs to evacuate to a safe location and be prepared to remain there for at least the next 12 hours,” Dr Brennan warned.
The BBC’s Nick Davies said Jamaicans had been rushing to supermarkets earlier this week to get “as many supplies as they can, as quickly as they can”.
Jamaica’s Information Minister Dana Morris Dickson said the island has 900 evacuation centres to house people who need to leave their homes.
Image source, Getty Images
Hurricane Beryl brought heavy rains to Venezuela, causing rivers to overflow in the northern state of Sucre, leaving three people dead and several others still missing.
A government delegation was hit by a falling tree while inspecting the damage.
President Nicolas Maduro said Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez was among the injured, adding that he was “badly bruised but conscious.”
With Hurricane Beryl expected to make landfall in the coming days, residents of Cancun, Mexico, have been rushing to supermarkets to stock up on supplies, with some finding the shelves empty.
The NHC said Hurricane Beryl formed much earlier in the hurricane season than normal.
Meteorologists also commented on how quickly Beryl developed.
Hurricane expert Sam Lillo told The Associated Press that the storm strengthened from a tropical depression to a major hurricane in 42 hours.
Predicted path of Hurricane Beryl
In Texas, officials warned residents to prepare for the possibility of Beryl arriving this weekend.
Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday told residents along the state’s Atlantic coast to “keep an eye on the Gulf of Mexico” and “have an emergency plan in place to protect yourself and your loved ones.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has warned that the North Atlantic could see up to seven major hurricanes this year, up from an average of three per season.
