CNN
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Hurricane Beryl is barreling through the Windward Islands as an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane, bringing high winds, intense rain and a life-threatening storm surge after making landfall on Monday.
It is the strongest known hurricane to pass through this region, according to NOAA data dating back to 1851.
Beryl made landfall shortly after 11:00 a.m. EDT on Carriacou Island of the Grenadines, in the Caribbean Sea, with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph. The storm caused power outages, flooded streets and triggered flooding in parts of the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados and Tobago on Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Beryl’s arrival marks an unusually early start to the Atlantic hurricane season. On Sunday, it became the first Category 4 ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean and the only Category 4 in June. The 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.
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Beryl is breaking records for the month of 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 at the First Street Foundation, a non-profit organisation.
“Hurricanes don’t know what month it is, they only know what their ambient environment is,” Kossin told CNN. “Beryl is breaking records for the month of June because Beryl thinks it’s September.”
Kossin added that the ocean heat fueling Beryl’s unprecedented strengthening “certainly bears a human fingerprint.”
Islanders scrambled to complete final emergency preparations Sunday night, even as tropical storm-force winds approached. Local officials are warning of potentially catastrophic consequences, including damage to homes, widespread power outages and threats to the safety of residents.
“I want everyone in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to take this issue very seriously,” Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said. “Some people hope for the best, and we all have to, but we all have to prepare for the worst.”
• Beryl is a dangerous hurricane: The storm is located near the island of Carriacou, which is part of Grenada, has sustained winds of 150 mph and is moving west-northwest at 20 mph. Beryl’s hurricane-force winds extend 40 miles from the center while tropical storm-force winds extend about 125 miles.
• Storm surge and life-threatening flooding: The National Hurricane Center warned that “a life-threatening storm surge will raise water levels 6 to 9 feet above normal tide level” when Beryl makes landfall. Towering waves could also create potentially deadly surf and rip currents and threaten small vessels 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 has warned citizens to be “extremely vigilant”.
• Hurricane Warnings: Barbados, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Tobago. A hurricane watch is in effect for Jamaica. Tropical storm warnings are in effect for Martinique, Trinidad 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 -from Hainault.
• Hundreds of people evacuated: More than 400 people were housed in hurricane shelters across Barbados as of Sunday evening, the country’s chief shelter director, Ramona Archer-Bradshaw, told CNN affiliate CBC News. “I’m happy that people are using shelters. If they don’t feel comfortable at home, it’s best to go to a shelter,” she said.
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Workers placed sandbags outside the back door of a store on Sunday in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Beryl in Bridgetown, Barbados.
• 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 due to leave until Monday and Tuesday, and some of them have never been through a hurricane or a storm before.” She implored residents to support the visitors, if possible.
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A boarded up building is seen in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Saturday.
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.
The storm is not only early for this season. It is now the third major hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. The first 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 forming the easternmost hurricane in the tropical Atlantic in June, breaking a previous record set in 1933.
The central and eastern Atlantic traditionally become more active in August, in part 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.
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Systems forming so early in the summer in this part of the Atlantic are a sign of a hyperactive hurricane season to come, according to a study by Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane expert and researcher at Michigan State University. Colorado. Normally, ocean temperatures are not warm enough in June and July to support the development of tropical systems.
National Weather Service forecasters predict 17 to 25 named storms this season, 13 of which will strengthen into hurricanes.
“It’s well above average,” noted Brennan.
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.
