Hurricane Beryl, Atlantic's earliest Category 4 hurricane, makes landfall in Caribbean
CBC
A dangerous and extremely powerful Hurricane Beryl made landfall Monday on the Caribbean island of Carriacou after becoming the earliest storm of Category 4 strength to form in the Atlantic, fuelled by record warm waters.
The hurricane had winds up to 240 km/h, just shy of a Category 5 storm, as it blew off roofs, uprooted trees and caused other damage on Carriacou, one of the islands of Grenada, and elsewhere in the southeast Caribbean.
"This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation," the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Hurricane warnings were in effect for Barbados, Grenada, Tobago and St. Vincent and the Grenadines as thousands of people hunkered down in homes and shelters. The last strong hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada.
"It's going to be terrible," Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, said ahead of the storm, urging people to stay indoors "and wait this monster out."
Late Monday morning, Beryl was located about 50 kilometres northeast of the island of Grenada, with maximum sustained winds of 240 km/h, and was moving west-northwest at 31 km/h.
Officials in Barbados received more than a dozen reports of roof damage, fallen trees and downed electric posts across the island, said Kerry Hinds, emergency management director.
Once Beryl passes, drones will assess damage and speed up response, said Wilfred Abrahams, minister of home affairs and information. Before, it used to take two hours to receive information as crews fanned out across the island, versus seven minutes with drones, he noted.
A tropical storm warning was in effect for St. Lucia, Martinique and Trinidad. A tropical storm watch was issued for Haiti's entire southern coast, and from Punta Palenque in the Dominican Republic west to the border with Haiti. A hurricane watch was issued for Jamaica.
Forecasters warned of a life-threatening storm surge of up to three metres in areas where Beryl will make landfall, with 7.6 to 15 centimetres of rain for Barbados and nearby islands and possibly 25 centimetres in some areas, especially in Grenada and the Grenadines.
The storm was expected to weaken slightly over the Caribbean Sea on a path that would take it just south of Jamaica and later toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as a Category 1.
"It should be emphasized that Beryl is forecast to remain a significant hurricane during its entire trek across the Caribbean region," the centre said.
Officials in some southeast Caribbean islands announced controlled shutdowns of electricity and warned of water outages ahead of the storm, urging people to seek shelter. They warned of landslides and flash flooding as they shuttered schools, airports and government offices.
Hours before the storm, Barbadian Michael Beckles said he feared the worst for his island despite witnessing how people were taking it seriously.