As Hurricane Beryl barrels toward Jamaica as a Category 4 storm, the country’s prime minister, Andrew Holness, preemptively declared the entire island a disaster area in an address to the public.
Holmes also said an islandwide curfew will be in place from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time Wednesday.
A storm surge up to 9 feet is expected as the storm moves northwest toward landfall on the island’s southern shore. Wind gusts are expected to near 130 mph as the storm closes in on the island midday Wednesday. Up to a foot of rain is expected. This could trigger flash flooding in vulnerable areas.
Although the cyclone has lost some steam as it closes in on Jamaica, it has already caused six deaths in the Caribbean.
Satellite imagery provided by GOES-16 satellite shows Hurricane Beryl over the Caribbean Sea, July 1, 2024, in this screen grab taken from a handout video.
Colorado State University and NOAA via Reuters
Beryl now most powerful Cat 5 hurricane in July 2024.
ABC News
Beryl was downgraded to a Category 4 from a Category 5, but its maximum sustained winds remained dangerous at 145 mph Wednesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center. A hurricane warning has been issued for Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
Beryl is forecast to continue to weaken as it moves through the Caribbean Sea, but is still expected to be a major hurricane when it reaches Jamaica on Wednesday.
In anticipation of the storm, Jamaican officials shuttered three airports on Tuesday. They will stay closed through Wednesday, and reopening will be announced pending post-storm assessments.
Sangster International Airport (Montego Bay), Norman Manley International Airport (Kingston) and Ian Fleming International Airport have all closed.
Fishing vessels lie damaged after Hurricane Beryl passed through the Bridgetown Fisheries in Barbados July 1, 2024.
Ricardo Mazalan/AP
The hurricane killed three people in Cariacou in Grenada, where it made landfall on Monday, officials said. Another death from the storm was reported in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and two people were killed in northern Venezuela, officials in those countries said.
Hurricane Beryl had strengthened into a Category 5 storm heading into Tuesday as it moved through the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea, becoming the strongest July Atlantic hurricane on record.
Early Tuesday, Beryl was packing maximum winds of 165 mph. The hurricane surpassed the July record of 160 mph maximum winds produced by Hurricane Emily in 2005, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The outer bands of Beryl also brought heavy rain to southern portions of the Dominican Republic and Haiti late Tuesday and into Wednesday.
Residents of St. Vincent and the Grenadines were cleaning up Tuesday and assessing damage. Schools, homes, buildings and farmland sustained extensive hurricane damage, officials said. On Union Island, which is part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, authorities said 90% of the houses were either destroyed or severely damaged, and the roof of the Union Island airport was ripped off by the hurricane’s buzzsaw-like winds. Heavy damage was also reported at Argyle International Airport on St. Vincent.
The one death reported in the Grenadines occurred on Bequia Island, officials said.
After touring the damaged areas on Tuesday, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves told reporters that Beryl “left in its wake immense destruction.”
Sea surface temperatures in the Caribbean Sea are running warmer than average for this time of the year, more in line with where they would be at the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season rather than early July. This is providing ample fuel for Beryl’s extreme intensification.
A weakening trend will continue through the rest of the week as Beryl sweeps across the Caribbean Sea and encounters less favorable atmospheric conditions.
Beryl will then aim for Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula by the end of the week. The current forecast calls for another landfall sometime on Friday along the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Beyond that, the system will likely move into the southwestern Gulf of Mexico/Bay of Campeche, continuing to weaken, while taking aim at parts of eastern Mexico next weekend as a tropical storm.
Unfortunately, the same general area of eastern Mexico will likely now see impacts from all three of the first named storms of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. After being hit by Tropical Storms Alberto and Chris, Beryl will likely bring at least some impacts to the same region by later in the upcoming weekend.