Five dead in highest category hurricane in the Caribbean - Hurricane races towards Jamaica
"Beryl", the first tropical storm of the hurricane season, had developed into a "potentially catastrophic" hurricane with wind speeds of up to 260 kilometers per hour, according to previous reports from the National Hurricane Center (NHC). This marks the earliest recording of a storm of Category 5 in the Atlantic with such wind speeds, as "Beryl."
At least three people have died in Grenada, one in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and another in Venezuela.
Before being upgraded to Category 5, the storm hit the Grenadian island of Carriacou. "Carriacou was flattened in half an hour," said Grenada's Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell during a press conference. The island is almost completely cut off from the outside world, with houses, communication and fuel facilities destroyed by the wind. "We had almost no contact with Carriacou for the past 12 hours, except for a brief call via satellite phone this morning," Mitchell added.
Approximately 9,000 people live on the 35-square-kilometer island. At least two people have died on Carriacou, Mitchell reported, while another person died on the main island of Grenada when a tree fell on a house.
Carriacuan UN Climate Chief Simon Stiell stated, "It's clear that the climate crisis is leading to a new record level of destruction in disasters." His family in Carriacou was affected by the hurricane. According to Stiell's office, his late grandmother's house was destroyed, and his parents' house was severely damaged.
"The climate crisis is getting worse, and it's happening faster than we anticipated," warned the UN Climate Chief. Governments and corporations must take more ambitious climate action.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines stated that "90% of the houses" and the airport on Union Island were severely damaged or destroyed. One person died on the island of Bequia.
In the northeastern Venezuelan state of Sucre, a person died after being swept away by an overflowing river, according to official reports.
Homes and businesses were flooded, and fishing boats were damaged on Barbados, but it appeared to have been spared from more serious damage. The situation was similar on Martinique, where there were damages to boats and some flooding.
The hurricane is expected to pass near Jamaica on Wednesday and the Cayman Islands on Thursday, according to the NHC. Tropical storm warnings were issued for the southern coasts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Due to climate change, the number and intensity of extreme weather events are increasing. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expects an "exceptional" hurricane season this year with up to seven storms of Category 3 or higher. This is largely due to the weather phenomenon La Niña and the very high temperatures of the Atlantic.
- Five days ago, Beryl was just a tropical storm in the Atlantic, but it rapidly transformed into a Category 5 hurricane.
- The storm's devastating impact was felt in Venezuela, resulting in one reported death.
- Famous environmental activist Simon Stiell, who serves as the UN Climate Chief for Grenada and Carriacou, lost his late grandmother's house in the storm.
- According to reports, at least two people died on Carriacou, an island in the Caribbean, due to the hurricane's ravages.
- The storm, now classified as a Category 5, approached Grenada, causing significant destruction and causing at least one death.
- The authority information from the NHC warns of expected heavy rain in parts of Jamaica as the hurricane continues its path towards the Caribbean island.
- The Governor-General of Jamaica has declared a state of emergency in parts of the country, anticipating the hurricane's impact.
- In the midst of the hurricane, some parts of Jamaica, like Kingston, experienced rainfall levels that matched those seen in a typical Hurricane Category 3 event, according to Jamaica's Ministry of Water, Land, Environment, and Climate Change.
