Hurricane Beryl approached the southeast Caribbean on Sunday, prompting residents to expedite preparations ahead of the anticipated landfall overnight of the “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm — the earliest ever recorded in June.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) cautioned that Beryl — currently swirling in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of Barbados — would maintain its status as an “extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane” upon reaching inhabited islands in the southeast Caribbean early Monday.
“All preparations should be rushed to completion today,” it advised, urging residents to heed the instructions of local authorities and emergency personnel.
Beryl was projected to bring “potentially catastrophic hurricane-force winds, a life-threatening storm surge, and damaging waves” to the Windward Islands, which include Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Grenada, among others.
The NHC highlighted that St. Vincent and the Grenadines as well as Grenada faced the highest risk of being at the core of the storm beginning early Monday.
Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, and Tobago were under hurricane warnings, according to the latest NHC advisory, while tropical storm warnings or watches were in effect for Martinique, as well as southern Haiti and the Dominican Republic further along the storm’s path.
A state of emergency was declared in Tobago, one of the two islands comprising Trinidad and Tobago, with schools ordered closed on Monday, confirmed top official Farley Augustine.
In Bridgetown, Barbados, cars lined up at gas stations and supermarkets were bustling with shoppers stocking up on essentials like food and water, while some households began boarding up their properties.
Beryl became the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season early Saturday morning and rapidly strengthened to Category 4, the first on record to achieve such intensity in June, according to NHC records.
– Devastating wind damage –
A Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale is classified as a major hurricane, with a Category 4 storm characterized by sustained winds of at least 130 miles per hour (209 kilometers per hour).
As of 5:00 pm (2100 GMT) on Sunday, Beryl’s maximum sustained winds were estimated at 130 mph, as reported by the NHC.
The NHC cautioned that Beryl is expected to maintain its strength as it traverses the Caribbean, advising residents and officials in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and the rest of the northwestern Caribbean to closely monitor its progress.
The formation of such a potent storm so early in the Atlantic hurricane season, which typically spans from early June to late November, is exceedingly rare, according to experts.
“Only five major (Category 3+) hurricanes have been recorded in the Atlantic before the first week of July. Beryl would be the sixth and earliest this far east in the tropical Atlantic,” noted hurricane expert Michael Lowry on the social media platform X.
In late May, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projected an “extraordinary” hurricane season for the year, with up to seven storms reaching Category 3 or higher.
The agency attributed the expected upsurge in storms to warm Atlantic Ocean temperatures and conditions linked to the weather phenomenon La Nina in the Pacific.
Climate change has resulted in more frequent and more devastating extreme weather events, including hurricanes, in recent years.
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