Hurricane Beryl, which made particularly early landfall, is set to hit Jamaica and then the Cayman Islands on Wednesday, the American Hurricane Center (NHC) has warned. It has already killed seven people and caused considerable destruction in the south-eastern Caribbean.
Although relegated to Category 4 on Tuesday afternoon, this first hurricane of the season was classified Tuesday as Category 5, the highest with winds exceeding 252 km/h. Beryl was then the earliest Category 5 hurricane ever recorded by the American weather service.
Two more deaths related to the hurricane were reported in Venezuela, bringing the death toll in the country to three. At least three more people were killed in Grenada, as well as one in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“Damaging winds…, life-threatening rising seas and destructive surf are expected in areas of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands during the day and evening on Wednesday,” the NHC said. The hurricane is packing winds of 155 mph (250 km/h).
A little less violent
“The good news is that Beryl has started to weaken a little bit,” said NHC Director Michael Brennan, calling the hurricane “extremely dangerous.”
Beryl could hit Jamaica as a Category 3 or 4 storm, which could cause “considerable wind damage, including to homes, roofs, trees and power lines,” he added.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness urged “all Jamaicans to stock up on food, batteries, candles and water” and to “safely store” their “essential documents” in a post on the social network X on Tuesday.
In addition to Jamaica, hurricane warnings have also been issued for the Cayman Islands, which Beryl is expected to pass near or over Wednesday night, according to the NHC. Beryl will also hit southern Haiti and weaken as it reaches Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday night.
Climate crisis
“It is clear that the climate crisis is pushing disasters to new record levels of destruction,” said UN Climate Change chief Simon Stiell. One of the two victims recorded on Carriacou, an island in Grenada, which was devastated by the hurricane’s eye on Monday, was a member of his family.
“The climate crisis is getting worse, and faster than expected,” requiring “much more ambitious climate action from governments and businesses” in response, he added in a statement to AFP.
In Barbados, homes and businesses were flooded and fishing boats damaged in Bridgetown. On the French island of Martinique, streets were flooded and some 10,000 customers were left without power, according to utility EDF.
North Atlantic overheating
Beryl is the first hurricane of the season in the Atlantic. A weather event of this scale is extremely rare so early in the hurricane season, which runs from early June to late November in the United States.
The American meteorological observatory (NOAA) had predicted at the end of May an extraordinary season and the possibility of four to seven hurricanes of category 3 or more.
These forecasts are linked in particular to the expected development of the La Nina weather phenomenon, as well as to the very high temperatures of the Atlantic Ocean, according to NOAA. Temperatures in the North Atlantic have been evolving continuously for more than a year at record levels of heat, well above the annals.
This article was published automatically. Sources: ats / afp
