After devastating the Grenadine Islands in the Caribbean Sea, the hurricane Beryl has further strengthened to reach the Category 5 and is heading towards Jamaica. According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) American, Beryl was located about 840 miles (1,355 km) east-southeast of Kingston with maximum sustained winds of 260 kilometers per hour.
“Beryl is now a potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane. Fluctuations in intensity are likely, but it is still forecast to be close to that major intensity” when it moves toward Jamaica today (Tuesday), the NHC said in a statement.
Alert also in Mexicowhere authorities have begun preparing for the arrival of Beryl, which the NHC has called a probable tropical storm on Thursday. In a statement, the federal government called on authorities and the population to exercise “extreme caution.” “What worries us is that the reservoirs are already saturated. With a little rain, the rivers will rise,” said Cutberto Ruiz, head of meteorology at Oaxaca’s civil defense agency.
“Areas of Belize, the Cayman Islands, the Yucatan Peninsula, the northwestern Caribbean, and the southwestern Gulf of Mexico should monitor Beryl’s evolution,” the NHC wrote in its latest report.
Beryl landed in the evening on theisola Carriacou of Grenada in the Caribbean Sea with maximum winds of about 240 kilometers per hour. It is the strongest hurricane known to pass through the Grenadinesaccording to NOAA data dating back to 1851. “There have been “widespread reports of destruction and devastation in Carriacou and Petite Martinique,” Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said at a news conference.
“Within half an hour, Carriacou was razed.” At least one death has been reported in St. Vincent and hundreds of homes and buildings were damaged, the Prime Minister of the Grenadines said in the evening Ralph Gonsalvesnoting that there could be more casualties. Hurricane Beryl “has left behind immense destruction, pain and suffering across our nation at this time,” he said. Union Island, just north of Grenada, has been devastated, with reports indicating that 90% of the houses were severely damaged or destroyed, Gonsalves said.
