Hurricane Beryl approaches Jamaica and Cancun; six dead

Hurricane Beryl, which has killed at least six people, weakened slightly on Tuesday to become a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 250 km/h as it passed south of the Dominican Republic.

That storm is expected to still be a major hurricane when it approaches or makes landfall in Jamaica on Wednesday afternoon. Meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center said “life-threatening” winds and possibly a storm surge of 5 to 8 feet (1.5 to 2.4 meters) are likely to impact Jamaica.

Beryl is forecast to bring 10 to 20 centimetres of rain to the island on Wednesday, with up to 30 centimetres in some areas.

Authorities there urged residents of flood-prone areas to prepare for evacuation.

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

“This is a major hazard in the Caribbean, particularly on the mountainous islands,” said Michael Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center, in an online briefing. “This could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides in some of these areas.”

Although Haiti and the Dominican Republic are not in Beryl’s direct path, the hurricane is close enough to bring a storm surge of 60 to 120 centimeters on the south coast, the hurricane center said.

Tropical storm conditions were forecast to arrive in Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, and Beryl was expected to move near or over the Cayman Islands Wednesday night or early Thursday before reaching Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday evening.

Southern areas of Haiti and the Dominican Republic will be affected by Beryl’s outer bands from Tuesday to Wednesday, with rainfall amounts between 5 and 15 centimeters possible.

Over the weekend, Beryl became the strongest hurricane ever recorded in June, with maximum winds of 140 mph (225 km/h). It was the first Category 4 storm of June and the earliest Category 4 storm ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. On Sunday, Beryl strengthened from a tropical storm to a major hurricane in just 42 hours.

Beryl reached the Grenadine Islands north of Grenada on Monday as a powerful Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 250 km/h, just below the Category 5 minimum speed of 252 km/h.

At least six people were killed when Beryl hit land in the southeastern Caribbean.

Three people were 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.

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, Beryl was located 420 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. The hurricane is moving west-northwest at 22 mph.

Hurricane-force winds reach up to 64 kilometers outward from the center, while tropical storm-force winds reach up to 300 kilometers.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac on Tuesday.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for the Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque west to the border with Haiti. A hurricane warning is now in effect for the south coast of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Anse d’Hainault.

Beryl is not expected to affect South Florida.

Parts of Mexico, the northern tip of Belize and the southern region of Texas were within Beryl’s probability cone on Tuesday.

The storm is expected to reach Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula by Friday. Once the storm crosses Yucatan and is back over the water, it will weaken to a tropical storm, meteorologists say.

The NHC is also keeping an eye on a tropical wave that was located about 1,000 miles east of the Leeward Islands in the Atlantic on Monday and could develop into a tropical depression by midweek as it moves toward the eastern and central Caribbean.