The death toll from Hurricane Beryl is rising, as the most powerful storm to ever hit the Atlantic in July lashes the Caribbean.
As the storm barrels toward Jamaica , people are on high alert, including a New Jersey family on vacation, who were hoping to make it off the island before the storm arrives.
The Simon family spent six glorious days in Montego Bay. For them, this trip was a long-awaited getaway and college graduation celebration.
“It’s actually beautiful. It’s beautiful,” said Brett Savage-Simon from Bloomfield, New Jersey.
But the tropical beauty captured in some of their pictures will soon be replaced with storm-force winds and torrential rain.
Beryl, the first hurricane of the season, has already left a deadly trail of devastation in several Caribbean islands including Grenada, Barbados, and St. Lucia. Now it’s roaring towards Jamaica.
“I am encouraging all Jamaicans to take the hurricane as a serious threat,” said Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness. “It is, however, not a time for panic. It is a time for us to be very strategic and calculated in our approach.”