Winds will quickly enhance throughout the eyewall. (Representational)
Bridgetown, Barbados:
Hurricane Beryl slammed into the Caribbean island of Carriacou on Monday, producing “life-threatening situations” together with disastrous winds, in keeping with US trackers, after the storm strengthened into a strong Class 4 storm.
With the “extraordinarily harmful eyewall” shifting over the island, which is a part of Grenada, the US Nationwide Hurricane Heart warned residents “not go away their shelter as winds will quickly enhance.”
1200 PM AST Jul 1 Place Replace: Extraordinarily harmful #Beryl is producing catastrophic winds and life-threatening storm surge within the southern Windward Islands. For the most recent data go to https://t.co/tW4KeGe9uJpic.twitter.com/xgMxdNrd5W
— Nationwide Hurricane Heart (@NHC_Atlantic) July 1, 2024
The attention of Beryl made landfall on Carriacou Island at 1510 GMT, the NHC reported on X, including in a bulletin that it was creating “catastrophic winds and life-threatening storm surge.”
Posting a video displaying massive waves, the Workplace of the Prime Minister of Grenada wrote on Fb that the tri-island state was “experiencing intense winds and injury.”
“That is a particularly harmful and life-threatening scenario,” the NHC mentioned. “Residents mustn’t go away their shelter and stay in place by means of the passage of those life-threatening situations.”
Consultants say that such a strong storm forming this early within the Atlantic hurricane season — which runs from early June to late November — is extraordinarily uncommon.
“Solely 5 main (Class 3+) hurricanes have been recorded within the Atlantic earlier than the primary week of July,” hurricane knowledgeable Michael Lowry posted on social media platform X.
“Beryl could be the sixth and earliest this far east within the tropical Atlantic.”
Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell urged residents to shortly search shelter and respect an island-wide curfew ordered for 7:00 pm to 7:00 am Tuesday morning.
Farther northeast within the Caribbean, officers in Barbados mentioned the island was buffeted by excessive winds and pelting rain, however appeared to have prevented catastrophe, reporting no accidents up to now.
Barbados appears to have “dodged a bullet,” Minister of House Affairs and Info Wilfred Abrahams mentioned in a video, however nonetheless “gusts are nonetheless coming, the storm-force winds are nonetheless coming” he mentioned, warning residents to stay inside till the all-clear.
Barbados, Grenada, plus Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tobago had been all underneath hurricane warnings, the NHC mentioned, whereas a hurricane watch or tropical storm warnings or watches had been in impact for Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad, St Lucia, and components of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
A state of emergency was declared in Tobago, the smaller of the 2 islands that make up Trinidad and Tobago, with colleges ordered closed on Monday, high official Farley Augustine mentioned.
A gathering this week in Grenada of the Caribbean regional bloc CARICOM was postponed.
Excessive climate
Beryl grew to become the primary hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season early Saturday morning and shortly strengthened to Class 4, the primary ever to achieve that stage in June, in keeping with NHC data.
A Class 3 or increased on the Saffir-Simpson scale is taken into account a serious hurricane, and a Class 4 storm packs sustained winds of at the least 130 miles per hour (209 kilometers per hour).
As Beryl struck Carriacou, it was packing most sustained winds that had elevated to 150 mph, the NHC mentioned.
Beryl is predicted to stay highly effective because it strikes throughout the Caribbean, the NHC mentioned, warning residents and officers within the Lesser Antilles, Hispaniola, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and the rest of the northwestern Caribbean to rigorously monitor its progress.
The US Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mentioned in late Might that it expects this yr to be an “extraordinary” hurricane season, with as much as seven storms of Class 3 or increased.
The company cited heat Atlantic Ocean temperatures and situations associated to the climate phenomenon La Nina within the Pacific for the anticipated enhance in storms.
Excessive climate occasions together with hurricanes have turn into extra frequent and extra devastating lately because of local weather change.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
