Bridgetown (Barbados): Hurricane Beryl left atleast one person dead after it intensified and strengthened to Category 5 status after making landfall on Monday, July 1, causing major damage to communications and means of travel among other things
The landfall was made on the island of Carriacou in Grenada as the earliest Category 4 storm in the Atlantic, fueled by its record-warm waters. The intensity ripped off doors, windows and roofs in homes across the southeastern Caribbean.
Prime Minister of Grenada, Dickon Mitchell, assured that the authorities have been trying to assess the situation on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique but haven’t completely gotten through.
In a statement, the Prime Minister said that because of the hurricane, Carricou was flattened in just half an hour.
According to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), Hurricane Beryl has sparked warnings of winds that may be life-threatening and very dangerous storm surges. There is a hurricane warning in Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Tobago.
The hurricane is so intense and dangerous that except for the hospitals and the national security force, everything has come to a standstill; nothing else is operational. Educational institutions and all kinds of businesses have been shut including the airport because a sustained wind speed of 92 mph and gust of 121 mph was reported on Monday afternoon.
Multiple flights have been cancelled across the region and facing the brunt, is the Indian Cricket Team which is stuck in Barbados because of the hurricane. The Rohit Sharma-led men’s cricket team of India which was expected to depart from Barbados on Monday morning, after winning the T20 World Cup 2024, are currently stuck at their hotel. The players will only be able to leave their hotel once the hurricane subsides.
Late Monday, Beryl’s winds increased to 160 mph (260 kph). Fluctuations in strength were likely in the coming days. Beryl was about 510 miles (825 kilometres) east-southeast of Isla Beata in the Dominican Republic and was moving west-northwest at 22 mph (33 kph). It was forecast to pass near Jamaica on Wednesday.
(With Inputs from AP)
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