"Extremely dangerous" hurricane "Beryl" reaches Jamaica
With a strength of four categories, meteorologists labeled the hurricane that swept away up to 215 hours-kilometers, as "extremely dangerous" beforehand. Previously, "Beryl" had reached the highest hurricane strength 5.
In Jamaica, emergency shelters had been prepared, residents secured their houses and brought boats ashore. People were advised to stock up on food and water supplies and keep their most important documents ready, wrote Prime Minister Andrew Holness in the online service X.
Furthermore, preparations had already been made for the arrival of the hurricane in other regions: On the Cayman Islands, "Beryl" was expected to arrive Monday night or Tuesday early morning. In the touristically developed Mexican peninsula Yucatan, Hurricane Beryl was expected to arrive Thursday evening. The authorities closed schools, prepared numerous shelters and announced the deployment of hundreds of soldiers and power line technicians.
At least seven people have died from the hurricane in Grenada, Venezuela, and the Caribbean state of St. Vincent and the Grenadines since Monday. The Grenadian island of Carriacou was almost completely cut off from the outside world after a collapse of the telephone network.
"Beryl" is the first hurricane since records began to have reached strength 4 already in June. Additionally, no storm has ever reached hurricane category 5 so early in the year.
In anticipation of Hurricane Beryl's arrival, authorities on the Cayman Islands urged residents to evacuate to designated shelters if necessary, as the storm was predicted to make landfall Monday night or Tuesday morning. Despite downgrading from a category 5, Jamaica still braced for the "extremely dangerous" category 4 Hurricane Beryl, with Prime Minister Holness advising citizens to take necessary precautions.
