One dead in Eastern Caribbean as Hurricane Beryl upgraded to Category 5

HAVANA: At least one person has died after Hurricane Beryl caused devastating damage in Grenada, the Prime Minister of the southeastern Caribbean island state, Dickon Mitchell, said on Monday evening.

Beryl reached the island of Carriacou, which belongs to Grenada, on Monday morning as a Category 4 hurricane, but has since been upgraded to Category 5 “potentially catastrophic,” the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said late Monday, the German news agency (dpa) reported.

Beryl brought maximum sustained winds of 261 kilometers per hour and “is expected to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge to Jamaica later this week,” the NHC said in a warning issued at 11 p.m.

According to experts, a hurricane of this strength has never been recorded in the region so early in the year.

The storm has caused devastation on Grenada’s islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, damaging many homes, Prime Minister Mitchell said in a briefing. Power lines have been downed and communication between the islands is difficult, he said.

So far, one person has died when a tree fell on a house, he said.

Neighbouring island states such as St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia were also hit by heavy rains and strong winds.

Pictures circulated on social media showing flooding and the rubble of destroyed houses.

Beryl’s center is moving west-northwest and is expected near Jamaica on Wednesday, according to the NHC. The hurricane is expected to make landfall on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula on Thursday.

Beryl strengthened from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane in less than 24 hours on Sunday. The Atlantic hurricane season typically peaks in September, when sea temperatures are at their highest.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expects an unusually strong hurricane season this year as sea temperatures are expected to rise this year due to climate change and the La Niña phenomenon, a season of cooler water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean.