CNN
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Hurricane Beryl struck the Windward Islands on Monday as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane, bringing high winds, intense rain and a potentially deadly storm surge.
Beryl made landfall shortly after 11 a.m. ET on the Caribbean Sea island of Carriacou in Grenada with winds of up to 150 mph (240 km/h). It was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Grenadines, according to NOAA records dating back to 1851.
“There are many reports of destruction and devastation in Carriacou and Petite Martinique,” Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said at a news conference Monday. “In half an hour, Carriacou was flattened.”
Mitchell said there were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries, but cautioned that could change.
“We have to realize the ferocity and the strength of the hurricane. So we’re not out of the woods yet,” he said. “And we can’t say with certainty that there were no injuries or loss of life as a result of the hurricane.”
The storm knocked out power across the island chain. About 95% of the island of Grenada has lost power due to Hurricane Beryl, Neila K. Ettienne, press secretary for the Prime Minister’s Office, told CNN on Monday. Telecommunications across Grenada are out and some people have lost internet service, Ettiene said.
All schools and businesses are closed, including the airport, the secretary said, adding that only hospitals and the national police are currently operational.
Beryl’s arrival marks an unusually early start to the Atlantic hurricane season. As of Sunday, it became the earliest Category 4 hurricane on record in the Atlantic Ocean and the only Category 4 hurricane in June. The unusually warm ocean waters that facilitated Beryl’s alarming strengthening are a clear indicator that this hurricane season will be far from normal amid global warming from fossil fuel pollution.
Beryl is breaking records for June because the ocean is as warm as it normally would be at the height of hurricane season, said Jim Kossin, a hurricane expert and science adviser to the nonprofit First Street Foundation.
“Hurricanes don’t know what month it is, they just know their surrounding environment,” Kossin told CNN. “Beryl is breaking records for June because it thinks it’s September.”
Kossin added that the ocean heat fueling Beryl’s unprecedented strengthening “certainly bears a human fingerprint.”
• Beryl is a dangerous hurricane: The storm was located 60 miles (96 km) west-northwest of the island of Carriacou, which is part of Grenada. As of Monday afternoon, winds were 150 mph (240 km/h) and moving west-northwest at 20 mph (32 km/h). Beryl’s hurricane-force winds extend 40 miles (64 km) from the center while tropical storm-force winds extend about 125 miles (200 km).
• Storm surge and potentially deadly flooding: The National Hurricane Center warned that “life-threatening surges could reach 2 to 3 metres above normal tide levels” when Beryl makes landfall. Massive waves could also create potentially deadly rip currents and waves, threatening small boats and fishermen well after landfall. Flash flooding is also a concern in parts of the Windward Islands and Barbados. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley warned citizens to be “extremely vigilant.”
• Hurricane Warnings: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada. A hurricane watch is in effect for Jamaica. Tropical storm warnings are in effect for Martinique and Saint Lucia. Tropical storm watches are in effect for the southern coast of the Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque westward to the border with Haiti, and for the southern coast of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Anse-d’Hainault.
• Hundreds of people evacuated: More than 400 people were staying in cyclone shelters in Barbados as of Sunday night, the country’s shelter manager, Ramona Archer-Bradshaw, told CNN affiliate CBC News. “I’m glad people are using the shelters. If they’re not comfortable in their own home, it’s better to go to a shelter,” she said.
• State of emergency in Grenada: A state of emergency has been declared by Grenada Governor-General Cecile La Grenade and will remain in effect from Sunday evening until Tuesday morning. All businesses will be required to close, with the exception of police forces, hospitals, prisons, landfills and ports.
• Closed airports: Airports in Barbados, Grenada and St. Lucia were closed Sunday night as Beryl approached. Grenada’s Maurice Bishop International Airport is expected to reopen Tuesday morning, a spokesman said. Barbados’ Grantley Adams International Airport and St. Lucia’s Hewanorra and George Charles International Airports have also suspended operations.
• Cricket World Cup fans are stuck: Barbados is still welcoming cricket fans from around the world who have travelled to the island for the T20 World Cup, some of whom will not be able to evacuate before Beryl arrives. “Our visitors are here with us,” Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley said. “Some of them are not expected to leave until Monday and Tuesday, and some of them have never experienced a hurricane or storm before.” She implored locals to support the visitors if possible.
Landing is far from the end of Beryl’s story, and her long-term path is still uncertain.
The hurricane will move generally west or northwest over the Caribbean Sea through Thursday, and is expected to remain a major hurricane – Category 3 or higher – through midweek before losing some strength.
Still, the hurricane will remain formidable with strong winds, torrential rains and dangerous seas extending well beyond its center across much of the Caribbean. Beryl’s center could pass just south of Jamaica on Wednesday and have greater impacts on the country even if it does not make landfall.
Several days are expected to elapse between Beryl’s first landfall in the Windward Islands on Monday and its next likely landfall on or around Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula around Friday morning.
What happens after Beryl’s next landfall will also determine whether the hurricane can reach the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend. If Beryl manages to survive its landfall and reach the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, it could spell trouble for northeastern Mexico or possibly the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The season is already off to a busy start as a second storm – Tropical Storm Chris – made landfall near Tuxpan, Mexico, off the Gulf Coast early Monday.
Beryl marks the start of a troubling hurricane season that forecasters say will be hyperactive — and Beryl’s record-breaking activity could be a sign of things to come.
Beryl is the earliest major hurricane (defined as a Category 3 or greater hurricane) to make landfall in the Atlantic in 58 years. The storm’s rapid intensification is highly atypical for this early in the hurricane season, according to National Hurricane Center Director Mike Brennan. It is rare for tropical systems to form in the mid-Atlantic east of the Lesser Antilles in June, especially strong ones, as only a handful of tropical systems have done so, according to NOAA records.
This storm is not only early for this season. It is now the third-earliest major hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. The earliest was Hurricane Alma on June 8, 1966, followed by Hurricane Audrey, which reached major hurricane status on June 27, 1957.
Beryl also set the record for the easternmost hurricane to form in the tropical Atlantic in June, breaking a previous record set in 1933.
The central and eastern Atlantic traditionally becomes more active in August, partly because ocean temperatures have had time to warm and fuel developing systems.
This year, however, the Atlantic basin experienced above-normal water temperatures and a lack of wind shear due to the transition from El Niño to La Niña, two factors that fuel tropical development.
“Beryl found an environment with very warm ocean waters for this time of year,” Brennan said.
According to research by Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane expert and researcher at the University of Colorado, the formation of systems this early in the summer in this part of the Atlantic is a harbinger of the upcoming hurricane season. Normally, ocean temperatures are not warm enough in June and July to allow tropical systems to thrive.
National Weather Service forecasters predict between 17 and 25 named storms this season, 13 of which will become hurricanes.
“That’s well above average,” Brennan noted.
CNN’s Monica Garrett, Gene Norman, Michael Rios, Marlon Sorto, Sandi Sidhu, Melissa Alonso, Isaac Yee, Eric Zerkel, Rachel Ramirez and Brandon Miller contributed to this report.
