KINGSTON — Jamaica is bracing for a near-direct strike from Category 4 Hurricane Beryl today, after the record-breaking storm left multiple people dead on islands in the eastern Caribbean.
The Cayman Islands and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula are in Beryl’s path for later in the week, and the southern Gulf coast of Texas, including Corpus Christi, was in Beryl’s forecast cone of uncertainty for late in the weekend.
Hurricane Beryl could bring life-threatening storm surge, flash flooding and mudslides to Jamaica and Haiti, and officials are warning residents to take shelter or evacuate the most prone areas.
The storm has caused at least seven deaths. It had weakened slightly into a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph by Tuesday night but is still expected to be a major hurricane or nearly a major hurricane when it nears or makes landfall in Jamaica today.
Early today, Beryl was about 185 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. The hurricane is traveling west-northwest at 20 mph.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 40 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 185 miles.
Beryl will quickly move across the central Caribbean Sea before passing near or over Jamaica on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said. The center of the hurricane will then pass near or over the Cayman Islands on Wednesday night or early Thursday before approaching the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico on Thursday night.
In Miami, National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said Jamaica appears to be in the direct path of Beryl.
“We are most concerned about Jamaica, where we are expecting the core of a major hurricane to pass near or over the island,” he said in an online briefing. “You want to be in a safe place where you can ride out the storm … Be prepared to stay in that location through Wednesday.”
The National Hurricane Center said that “life-threatening” winds and potentially 5 to 8 feet of storm surge were likely to strike Jamaica. Beryl is forecast to bring 4 to 8 inches or rain to the island on Wednesday, with up to 1 foot in some areas.
Officials there warned residents in flood-prone areas to prepare for evacuation.
“I am encouraging all Jamaicans to take the hurricane as a serious threat,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in a public address late Monday. “It is, however, not a time to panic.”
The Cayman Islands could see between 2 and 4 feet of storm surge. Though Haiti and the Dominican Republic are not in the direct path of Beryl, the hurricane is close enough to bring a potential storm surge of 1 to 3 feet along the southern coasts, the hurricane center said.
Tropical storm conditions were forecast to arrive in Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Tuesday night. Southern areas of Haiti and the Dominican Republic will be affected by Beryl’s outer bands Tuesday into Wednesday, with 2 to 6 inches of rain possible.
People walk amidst damaged property following the passing of Hurricane Beryl, in Union Island, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, in this screen grab taken from a handout video released on July 2. The Agency For Public Information St. Vincent and the Grenadines/Reuters
Over the weekend, Beryl became the strongest June hurricane on record, with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph. It was the first Category 4 storm to occur in June and the earliest Category 4 on record in the Atlantic Basin.
The storm strengthened from a tropical depression to a major hurricane in just 42 hours, which only six other Atlantic hurricanes have done, and never before September, according to hurricane expert Sam Lillo.
Beryl made landfall Monday in the Grenadine Islands north of Grenada as a powerful Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 155 mph, just shy of the minimum Category 5 threshold of 157 mph.
At least six people have died.
A person stands amidst damaged property following the passing of Hurricane Beryl, in Union Island, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, in this screen grab taken from a handout video released on July 2. The Agency For Public Information St. Vincent and the Grenadines/Reuters
Three people were reported killed in Grenada and Carriacou and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said. Two other deaths were reported in northern Venezuela, where five people were missing, officials said. Some 25,000 people in that area also were affected by heavy rainfall from Beryl.
One fatality in Grenada occurred after a tree fell on a house, Kerryne James, minister of climate resilience, environment and renewable energy, told The Associated Press.
“The situation is grim,” Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell told a news conference Tuesday. “There is no power, and there is almost complete destruction of homes and buildings on the island. The roads are not passable, and in many instances they are cut off because of the large quantity of debris strewn all over the streets.”
Mitchell added: “The possibility that there may be more fatalities remains a grim reality as movement is still highly restricted.”
Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac were under a hurricane warning Tuesday.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for the Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque west to the border with Haiti. A tropical storm watch is in effect in Belize from south of Chetumal to Belize City.
A hurricane watch is now in effect for the south coast of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Anse d’Hainault and in Mexico for the East coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from Chetumal to Cabo Catoche.
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 cone of probability on Tuesday night.
It should reach Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula by Thursday night. Once the storm crosses the Yucatan and is over water once again, it will weaken into a tropical storm, forecasters said.
Forecasters said Tuesday night that Beryl is expected to weaken in the next few days but will remain a hurricane in the northwestern Caribbean.
The NHC is also keeping an eye on a tropical wave, located several hundred miles east-southeast of the Windward Islands in the Atlantic on Monday, could become a tropical depression by midweek as it moves across the western Atlantic and eastern Caribbean.
As of 8 p.m. Tuesday, it has a 10% chance of developing in the next two days, while forecasters have reduced its chance of developing in the next seven days to 20%. It is expected to move west at 15 mph to 20 mph, forecasters said.
The next named storm to form would be Debby.
The western Gulf of Mexico generated the 2024 season’s first tropical storm last week. Dubbed Alberto, the system made landfall in Mexico 250 miles south of the U.S. border, but sent storm surge and flood to spots 500 miles away in Louisiana.
The 2024 hurricane season, which officially began June 1, is expected to be extremely active.
In its annual May outlook, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that the 2024 hurricane season has an 85% chance of being above normal, with 17 to 25 named storms with minimum sustained winds of 39 mph, and eight to 13 hurricanes. An average year has 14 named storms and seven hurricanes.
In addition, NOAA has forecast four to seven major hurricanes for 2024, meaning those that are Category 3 or above.
Experts at Colorado State University stated in their 2024 forecast that the U.S. East Coast, including Florida, had a 34% chance of a major hurricane making landfall this year. The average from 1880-2020 was 21%.
Forecasters say that the record-warm water temperatures that now cover much of the Atlantic Ocean will continue into peak hurricane season from August to October. That warm water fuels hurricanes. By early June, the tropical Atlantic was already as hot as it usually is in mid-August — peak hurricane season.
Hurricane season officially ends November 30.
Information from The Associated Press was used to supplement this news article.