Hurricane Beryl hits Jamaica, death toll rises, destruction widespread

KINGSTON, Jamaica >> Hurricane Beryl loomed over Jamaica today after cutting a destructive, water-soaked swath through smaller Caribbean islands in recent days, uprooting trees, ripping off roofs and destroying farms.

The death toll from the powerful Category 4 hurricane has risen to at least nine, but is widely expected to rise as communications are restored on islands devastated and soaked by flooding and deadly winds.

In Jamaica, the storm hit the island’s south coast this afternoon, bringing heavy winds and rain to communities as rescue workers evacuated residents of flood-prone communities.

“It’s terrible. Everything is gone. I’m at home and I’m scared,” said Amoy Wellington, a 51-year-old cashier who lives in Top Hill, a rural farming community in Jamaica’s southern St. Elizabeth parish. “It’s a disaster.”

Nearly 500 Jamaicans were in emergency accommodation as of this afternoon, Prime Minister Andrew Holness told reporters, urging people in high-risk areas to leave.

“We have not seen the worst that could happen,” Holness said. “We can do as much as we humanly can and leave the rest in God’s hands.”

The airports in the Jamaican capital Kingston and the tourist-popular Montego Bay were closed all day.

The loss of life and damage caused by Beryl underscore the consequences of a warming Atlantic Ocean, which scientists see as a telltale sign that human-caused climate change is leading to extreme weather conditions that are different from previous experiences.

Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, one of the worst-hit regions in the eastern Caribbean, said in a radio interview that the country’s Union Island had been “razed to the ground” by Beryl.

“Everyone is homeless… Reconstruction will be a herculean task.”

Speaking to state media, Nerissa Gittens-McMillan, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, warned of a possible food shortage after 50 percent of the country’s plantain and banana crops were lost, with significant losses also recorded in root crops and vegetables.

In Kingston, the streets were quiet as worried residents sought safety after spending the morning stocking up on essentials.

According to an energy supplier, Jamaicans should prepare for power outages later in the day. Roads near the coast have already been flooded as rain continues and winds are picking up in the capital.

In St. Elizabeth, local politician Joseph Patterson said there were power outages and the situation was “getting worse by the minute,” with strong winds knocking down trees.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the clearly visible eye of the rotating hurricane was about 65 miles southeast of Kingston, according to the National Hurricane Center, but its outer rings were already hitting much of the island, which has a population of nearly three million people.

Beryl has maximum sustained wind speeds of 225 km/h.

According to the NHC, wind strength is expected to diminish somewhat over the next day or two, but it cautioned that Beryl will remain at or near major hurricane strength as it continues to head toward the Cayman Islands.

“Life-threatening flash floods and landslides are expected to continue through today as a result of heavy rains in large parts of Jamaica and southern Haiti,” said an NHC report. Dangerous winds and storm surges are also expected on the Cayman Islands through Thursday morning.

The center added that a hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and the east coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, including the country’s most popular beach resort, Cancun.

As the effects of the Beryl storm grew stronger overnight, Haitians waited impatiently for the full force of the earthquake to hit.

“We were not comfortable. We could not sleep normally because of the wind and the water. Many people slept in the yard,” said Pouchon Jean-Francois, who lives in an improvised camp in Port-au-Prince.

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez was injured on Tuesday evening while exploring an area south of Beryl where the Manzanares River in Sucre state had overflowed its banks.

President Nicolás Maduro confirmed that his deputy was injured by a falling tree, and that the senior officials accompanying her also suffered head injuries after heavy rains moved inland from the country’s Caribbean coast.

On Tuesday evening, Maduro told state television that three people had died and four were missing in the region. In addition, more than 8,000 houses had been damaged by the torrential rains and at least 400 destroyed.

The hurricane, which started unusually early, strengthened at a record speed. Scientists believe that this is almost certainly due to climate change.

Beryl is the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season and the earliest storm on record to reach the highest category on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecast a large number of major hurricanes this year in an “exceptional” season.

Other confirmed fatalities so far include at least three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a senior official told Reuters, where more than 90 percent of buildings were destroyed on Union Island.

In Grenada, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell spoke of “Armageddon-like” conditions with power outages and widespread destruction and confirmed three deaths.

The NHC warned that in addition to short-term impacts on Jamaica and Haiti, Beryl was likely to make landfall on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula as early as Thursday evening.

In Cancun, officials said supplies of wooden boards to protect doors and windows were running low as locals and tourists prepared for Beryl’s arrival.

Laura Velazquez, head of the Mexican Civil Protection Agency, urged tourists in Cancún and nearby Tulum to take shelter in hotel basements as the hurricane approaches, in a comment to local broadcaster Milenio.