Hurricane Beryl is heading toward Jamaica after claiming at least six lives in the southeastern Caribbean

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Hurricane Beryl raged toward Jamaica on Wednesday, and islanders were hastily preparing for it after the powerful Category 4 storm had previously killed at least six people and caused significant damage in the southeastern Caribbean.

In Kingston, people boarded up their windows, fishermen pulled their boats out of the water before sitting around a table to play dominoes next to a cove, and workers dismantled roadside billboards to protect them from the expected whipping winds.

A hurricane warning has been issued for Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. Beryl is expected to weaken somewhat over the next day or two, but will still reach or attain major hurricane strength as it moves near or over Jamaica on Wednesday, near the Cayman Islands on Thursday and over Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

A hurricane warning has been issued for the southern coast of Haiti and the eastern coast of Yucatan. Belize has issued a tropical storm warning extending from the border with Mexico to Belize City.

Late Monday, Beryl became the first storm in the Atlantic to become a Category 5 hurricane, and peaked with winds of 170 mph (270 kph) on Tuesday before weakening to a still-destructive Category 4. By early Wednesday, the storm was located about 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Kingston. It had maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (230 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 19 mph (31 kph), the center said.

Beryl was expected to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge to Jamaica, where authorities warned residents of flood-prone areas to prepare to evacuate.

“I encourage all Jamaicans to view the hurricane as a serious threat,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in a public address on Tuesday. “However, this is not the time to panic.”

In Miami, Michael Brennan, director of the US National Hurricane Center, said Jamaica appeared to be directly in Beryl’s path. He urged residents to find safe shelter and stay there until Wednesday.

“We are most concerned about Jamaica, where we expect the core of a major hurricane to pass near or over the island,” he said in an online briefing.

In Jamaica, storm surges of 1.8 to 2.7 meters above normal tide levels are likely, as are heavy rainfall.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for the entire southern coast of Hispaniola, an island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

As Beryl sped through the Caribbean Sea, rescue teams from the southeastern islands were deployed to assess the extent of the damage the hurricane had caused on Carriacou, an island in Grenada.

Three people were reportedly killed in Grenada and Carriacou, and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, authorities said. Two more deaths were reported in northern Venezuela, where five people are missing, authorities said. About 25,000 people in that region were also affected by the heavy rains from Beryl.

There was one death in Grenada when a tree fell on a house, Environment Minister Kerryne James told the Associated Press. She said Carriacou and Petit Martinique were the hardest hit, with numerous homes and businesses flattened in Carriacou.

Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said on Tuesday there was no electricity, roads were impassable and the possible rise in the death toll “remains a grim reality”.

The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, has vowed to rebuild the archipelago, noting that 90% of the houses on Union Island have been destroyed and that “a similar level of destruction” is expected on the islands of Myreau and Canouan.

The last strong hurricane to hit the southeastern Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada.

Grenada, known as the “Spice Island,” is one of the world’s largest exporters of nutmeg. Mitchell pointed out that the majority of the spice is grown in the northern part of the island, which was most affected by beryl.