Beryl, earliest Category 4 hurricane on record, brings life-threatening winds to Caribbean
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Beryl, the first hurricane of the 2024 season, was located about 563km east-south-east of Barbados on June 30 morning.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BARBADOS – Hurricane Beryl has become a very dangerous Category 4 storm in the Atlantic Ocean and is expected to bring life-threatening winds and flash flooding to the Caribbean’s Windward Islands as it rapidly strengthens on July 1, the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said.
The first hurricane of the 2024 season was located about 563km east-south-east of Barbados on the morning of June 30, with maximum sustained winds of 209kmh, the NHC said in an advisory.
The centre of the hurricane is expected to travel across the Windward Islands on the morning of July 1 as a Category 4 storm, the second-strongest level on a five-step scale.
“Potentially catastrophic wind damage is expected where the eyewall of Beryl moves through portions of the Windward Islands, with the highest risk of the core in St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada,” NHC said in its most recent advisory.
It is rare for a major hurricane to appear this early in the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov 30. On June 30, Beryl became the earliest Category 4 hurricane
Hurricane warnings have been issued in Barbados, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadine Islands, Grenada and Tobago. A tropical storm watch has been issued for Dominica, Trinidad and parts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
The authorities and residents on the Caribbean islands have been preparing for the storm's arrival.
Tobago has opened shelters, closed schools for July 1, and cancelled elective surgeries in the hospitals, the authorities said.
The hurricane is expected to bring 8cm to 15 cm of rain across Barbados and the Windward Islands throughout the day on July 1, which the NHC warned could cause flash flooding in vulnerable areas.
Large, dangerous swells are also expected to batter the southern coasts of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola.
In May, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted “above-normal hurricane activity” in the Atlantic in 2024, in part due to near-record warm ocean temperatures. REUTERS
