Hurricane Beryl, the record-setting, powerful storm that has claimed at least six lives in the Caribbean, weakened slightly Tuesday as it makes its way toward Jamaica, but is still a major Category 4 with life-threatening winds and storm surge.
The storm, which could hit Jamaica directly or pass near it Wednesday, had been a Category 5 storm with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph — making it the strongest July hurricane ever recorded, beating Emily from 2015, according to the National Hurricane Center.
On Tuesday, winds decreased to 155 mph. But National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said wind speeds are going to come down very slowly, and Beryl will be a major hurricane when it goes over or near Jamaica.
“Beryl is still a very powerful Category 4 hurricane,” he said in a briefing Tuesday. He called the storm extremely dangerous.
The storm’s center was around 420 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and passing south of the Dominican Republic and Haiti at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday. It was moving west-northwest at 22 mph, and Jamaica will feel tropical storm-force winds early Wednesday, and then hurricane conditions, the National Hurricane Center said in a bulletin.
Three people were killed in Grenada, two people were killed in northeastern Venezuela and one person was killed in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, according to officials. In Grenada, two people died in Carriacou Island, which is where the eye of the hurricane hit Monday, and one person was killed by a falling tree on the island of Grenada.
Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said that there are many downed power lines and roads that are not passable because of debris.
“The situation is grim,” Dickon said. “There is no port. There’s almost complete destruction of homes and buildings on the island.”
Jamaica has issued a hurricane warning, and Prime Minister Andrew Holness urged people to be prepared and seek higher, safer ground make preparations and not to wait.
“We have an impending disaster, and we have to treat it with the seriousness that it requires,” Holness said. “We will have some adverse weather impacts, whether it is a direct hit or a glancing blow … and therefore everyone needs to be now in a mental state of readiness.”
After passing near or over Jamaica Wednesday, the hurricane is forecast to approach the Cayman Islands on Thursday before reaching the Yucatán Peninsula at night.
The storm surge in Jamaica could reach 5 to 8 feet above normal tide levels, with up to 12 inches of rain possible there and the southwestern Haitian peninsula through Wednesday. In the Cayman Islands, where there is also a hurricane warning, storm surge could raise water levels 2 to 4 feet above the norm.
The south coast of Haiti was under a hurricane watch and tropical storm warning, and the southern coast of the Dominican Republic was also under a tropical storm warning.
“We are most concerned about Jamaica, where we expect the core of a major hurricane to pass near or over the island during the day tomorrow,” Brennan, the National Hurricane Center director, said Tuesday.
The effects of Beryl could even reach the continental U.S., with minor coastal flooding in southeast Texas or southwest Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service field office in Lake Charles, Louisiana. More impacts are possible if the hurricane moves further north than expected.
In Grenada, officials were working on restoring communication wrecked by the storm.
“We have lost almost 95% of the roof and housing stock in Petite Martinique and in Carriacou,” Arthur Pierre, deputy coordinator for Grenada’s emergency management agency NaDMA, said in a video briefing Tuesday.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said that the storm has left “immense destruction.”
“Union Island has been devastated,” he said. The reports that I have received indicated that 90% of the houses have been severely damaged or destroyed.”
Beryl is the first hurricane classed as category 4 or higher to appear in June and the earliest category 4 storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. It’s also the strongest hurricane to pass through the Windward Islands, which include Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia and Martinique.
