2024-07-08 04:54:12
The hurricane Beryl The hurricane is expected to move toward Jamaica on Wednesday amid warnings from forecasters of life-threatening winds and storm surge, leaving at least seven dead and causing considerable damage in the southeastern Caribbean Sea, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported.
The powerful hurricane, the earliest of the Atlantic season, is forecast to pass Jamaica around noon local time as a Category 4 storm.
Beryl It is the first storm to reach that category in June and the first to reach Category 5 in July since the NHC began keeping records.
The U.S. agency issued a hurricane warning for the island, saying rain and flash flooding were expected, as well as hurricane-force winds and high water levels.
All of Jamaica has prepared for the arrival of Beryl:Shelters have been stocked with supplies, residents have tried to protect their homes and boats have been pulled out of the water.
A hurricane warning has been issued for the island nation, with rainfall and flash flooding forecast, as well as life-threatening winds and high water levels.
“I urge all Jamaicans to stock up on food, batteries, candles and water. Keep your important documents safe and remove any trees or objects that may endanger your property,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said on social media platform X.
The NHC also expects Beryl to “pass near or over” the Cayman Islands late Wednesday or early Thursday.
In the Dominican Republic, huge waves were seen breaking on the coast of Santo Domingo as the storm passed south of the country, AFP photographers reported.
“Without communications”
The hurricane has already left a trail of death in its wake, with at least three dead in Grenada, where the storm made landfall on Monday; one in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and three in Venezuela, according to local authorities.
The Prime Minister of Granada, Dickon Mitchellsaid the island of Carriacou had been left almost isolated, with homes, telecommunications and fuel facilities destroyed by the eye of the hurricane.
“We have had almost no communication with Carriacou in the last 12 hours, except briefly this morning by satellite phone,” Mitchell told a news conference.
About 9,000 people live on the 35-square-kilometer island. At least two people died there and a third died on the country’s main island, Grenada, when a tree fell on a house, Mitchell said.
In Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, one person was reported dead on the island of Bequia as a result of the storm. In Venezuela, three people died in the coastal state of Sucre, where two men and two women were also reported missing.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concern for the region, saying on X that the organization “stands ready to support national authorities with any health needs.”
“A worrying precedent”
Experts say it is very rare for such a powerful storm to form so early in the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from early June to late November.
North Atlantic waters are one to three degrees Celsius warmer than normal, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said.
Beryl “sets an alarming precedent for what is expected to be a very active hurricane season,” the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.
NOAA said in late May that it expects an “extraordinary” hurricane season this year, with up to seven storms of Category 3 or higher.
The climate crisis, “main culprit”
UN climate chief Simon Stiell, who has family on Carriacou Island, said climate change was “driving disasters to unprecedented levels of destruction”.
“Disasters on a scale that used to be the stuff of science fiction are becoming meteorological fact, and the climate crisis is the main culprit,” he said on Monday.
At 1200 GMT on Wednesday, Beryl had maximum sustained winds of 230 km per hour as it headed toward Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, according to the NHC. Hurricane and tropical storm warnings have also been issued for parts of Haiti and the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula between Chetumal and Cabo Catoche.
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2024-07-08 04:54:12