Jamaica’s Prime Minister has urged the island’s residents to “stock up on food, batteries, candles and water”

Beryl is the first Atlantic hurricane of the season. A weather event of this magnitude is exceptionally rare this early in the hurricane season, which runs from early June to late November.

Considerable damage

Hurricane Beryl, a particularly early hurricane, is advancing across the Caribbean on Wednesday 3 July, having caused extensive damage and at least seven deaths. It is expected to hit Jamaica on Wednesday, according to the US Hurricane Center (NHC).

Although downgraded to category 4 on Tuesday afternoon, this hurricane, the first of the season, was classified as category 5 on Monday evening and Tuesday morning, with winds exceeding 252 km/h and “potentially catastrophic” effects.

Destructive winds

At the time, Beryl was the earliest category 5 hurricane ever recorded by the US weather service. “Devastating winds (…), potentially deadly rising seas and destructive waves are expected in parts of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands on Wednesday and Wednesday evening,” the NHC said in its 9pm bulletin on Tuesday, mentioning winds of 250km/h in the hurricane.

“The good news is that Beryl has begun to lose some of its strength,” commented Michael Brennan, director of the NHC, nevertheless describing the hurricane as “extremely dangerous.”

Beryl could reach Jamaica as a category 3 or 4 storm, “with the potential for catastrophic wind damage, heavy damage to homes, roofs, trees and power lines”, he added.

“In Jamaica, it is imperative to be in a safe place by nightfall and be prepared to shelter there all day Wednesday”, Michael Brennan stressed. Beryl will also affect southern Haiti and will reach the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico on Thursday evening in a weakened state.

Devastation in the West Indies Before reaching these islands, the eye of the hurricane ravaged Carriacou on Monday, an island in Grenada renowned for its beauty, as well as other territories in the region.

Two people were killed in Carriacou and another on the neighbouring island of Grenada, the main island of the small archipelago, reported Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell. Winds of up to 240km/h were measured on Carriacou, which he said was “destroyed in half an hour”.

“It is clear that the climate crisis is pushing disasters to new record levels of destruction”, observed Simon Stiell, head of UN Climate, whose family is among the victims in Carriacou.

“The climate crisis is worsening, and faster than expected”, which requires “much more ambitious climate action by governments and businesses”, he added in a statement to AFP.

Several countries affected

In the neighbouring archipelago of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Beryl has caused devastation and at least one death, according to Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves.

“Unfortunately, one person has died. There could be other victims, we’re not sure”, he said in a video on Facebook, adding that “90% of homes were severely damaged or destroyed on one of the islands, where the roof of the airport was ripped off”.

In Barbados, homes and businesses were flooded, and fishing boats were damaged in Bridgetown. On the French island of Martinique, streets were flooded and around 10,000 customers were without electricity, according to the electricity supplier EDF.

In Venezuela, a man died when he was swept away by the current of a swollen river in the small town of Cumanacoa, near the coast, according to official sources.

North Atlantic overheating

Beryl is the first Atlantic hurricane of the season. A weather event of this magnitude is extremely rare this early in the hurricane season, which runs from the beginning of June to the end of November in the United States.

At the end of May, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted an exceptional season, with the possibility of four to seven category 3 hurricanes or more.

These forecasts are due in particular to the expected development of the La Niña weather phenomenon, as well as very high temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean, according to NOAA. For more than a year, temperatures in the North Atlantic have been reaching record levels, well above historical averages.