Hurricane Beryl roared across the Caribbean on Monday, devastating communities in Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, with shocking aerial images showing the widespread damage.
Beryl, currently a Category 3 storm, caused extensive damage in Jamaica and southeastern Caribbean islands earlier this week and is now heading toward the Cayman Islands and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday.
The center of the deadly storm is expected to move through the Yucatan Peninsula early Friday before emerging in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico Friday night, and South Texas has been told to monitor Beryl’s path.
Life-threatening winds and rain caused power outages across Jamaica. More than 900 evacuation centres are in place across the island and evacuation procedures are in place for residents in low-lying areas at risk of flooding, Information Minister Dana Morris-Dixon said as Beryl approached the island earlier this week.
Jamaica lifted its hurricane warning as the storm began to move away from the island.
Weather conditions in the Cayman Islands had been worsening since Thursday morning as Beryl approached, and more than 1,000 people were evacuated ahead of impact, authorities in George Town said. The New York Times I will report.
Beryl has already left a deadly path, destroying buildings and killing at least eight people, including one in Jamaica and three in Venezuela, where the hurricane’s outer ring brought heavy rains.
“Every building, whether public, residential or other privately owned, has been almost completely damaged or destroyed,” Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said. CBS News“The complete devastation and destruction of agriculture. The complete destruction of the natural environment. There is literally no vegetation left anywhere on Carriacou.”
The path of the weekend storm is still uncertain, but the National Weather Service said it could hit South Texas and Louisiana between Sunday night and Monday.
Before and After: Hurricane Beryl devastates the Eastern Caribbean
Petite Martinique, Grenada, in May 2023 and on July 2, 2024, the day after Hurricane Beryl struck the Eastern Caribbean. Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said Grenada suffered “unimaginable” damage after the storm passed through.
Authorities have identified at least three people killed in Grenada by the hurricane, including a relative of a government worker killed by a falling tree in St. George’s.
“This is a shocking event,” Mitchell said. “The person who died is actually a relative of someone who spent the last 36 hours with us here at the National Emergency Operations Centre.”
Petite Saint Vincent, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, May 2023 and July 2, 2024. Hurricane Beryl slammed into the Eastern Caribbean, killing at least one person in the country. Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said more deaths could be reported in the coming days as an island-wide power outage continues to affect the country.
“There are some areas that don’t have water because their water systems have been cut off,” Gonsalves said.
“The faces of our men and women are tense and anxious,” he continued, “but tomorrow, we wake up with the faith that we will rebuild our individual and family lives; that we will rebuild and heal our nation.”
Carriacou Island, Grenada, photographed in May 2023 and July 2, 2024. Mitchell said the tiny island was “destroyed” within 30 minutes by Hurricane Beryl on Monday.
The storm ripped off 95 percent of roofs on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, where the power grid has also been “almost completely destroyed,” according to the prime minister.
“The entire communications system was completely destroyed and many people lost their homes completely,” Mitchell said.
Argyle on Carriacou in May 2023 and July 2, 2024. Mitchell described Carriacou as “like Armageddon” after Hurricane Beryl, with “almost total destruction.”
“Agriculture has been completely devastated and destroyed, the natural environment has been completely destroyed,” Mitchell said. “There is literally no vegetation left anywhere on Carriacou.”
UN officials in Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are working closely with local leaders to assist with recovery efforts.
A UN spokesman said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had called on the international community to “show solidarity” with all Caribbean countries in the path of Hurricane Beryl.
