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A severe Category 4 hurricane, Beryl, wreaked havoc across the southeastern Caribbean on Monday, marking the fastest early season storm of its magnitude to hit the region, energized by unprecedented warm sea temperatures. The storm, making landfall on Carriacou Island, inflicted severe damage — tearing apart homes, flipping roofs, and uprooting doors and windows.
One casualty was reported on Bequia Island by NBC Radio, amid widespread destruction affecting schools, homes, and agricultural land across nations including St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where communication facilities were majorly disrupted.
The hurricane, unleashing winds close to 150 mph, littered streets from St. Lucia to Grenada with debris, fallen trees, and electrical lines, indicating the violent force just below the threshold of a Category 5 storm. Agricultural sectors saw significant damage, with snapped banana trees and deceased livestock marking the intense severity of the storm.
Vichelle Clark King, a shop owner in Bridgetown, Barbados, expressed her devastation as her property was heavily damaged, filled with sand and water. Late Monday, Beryl continued to menace the southeast Caribbean and was forecasted to move towards Jamaica and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula as a weakened Category 1 storm by Thursday.
Despite its destructive path, Beryl represents an unprecedented meteorological event, being the earliest storm of its strength to form in the Atlantic, a phenomenon attributed to record-setting warm ocean waters. This rapid intensification from a tropical depression to a major hurricane within just 42 hours was noted by experts as a rare occurrence, historically achieved by only six other storms.
Grenada and surrounding islands reported significant devastation, with officials noting extensive storm surge damages. In response, Grenada’s Prime Minister pledged to visit the affected areas as soon as possible. Barbados also employed drone technology for faster damage assessment post-storm.
The storm prompted warnings of life-threatening storm surges and significant rainfall across Barbados and nearby islands. Beryl, the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, underscores the intense start to a season expected to be significantly more active than average, highlighting the growing concern over the patterns of severe weather events.