KINGSTON, Jamaica — Hurricane Beryl plowed toward the southeast Caribbean on Sunday as residents were urged to hurry and finish preparations ahead of the expected landfall overnight of the “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm — the first ever recorded in June.
The Meteorology Service of Jamaica said on Sunday evening that it is still too early declare the storm a “threat” to the island, but said the country is at “risk” of heavy rainfall and strong winds.
“At this point in time we have not declared that this is a threat to Jamaica. It could very well pose to be a threat… right now this is a risk that we have to manage,” Evan Thompson, principal director of the Meteorological Service, told journalists at a media briefing.
“Tomorrow (Monday) morning we will be able to assess it and determine whether we consider it a threat now that it is entering the Caribbean region and whether there is a sustainability in the forecast models,” he added.
He said Jamaica is at risk of heavy rainfall, strong winds associated with a hurricane and “all the complexities with storm surge and landslides and the hazards that come with hurricane activity.”
In the meantime, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned residents that Beryl — currently churning in the Atlantic Ocean about 250 miles (400 kilometres) southeast of Barbados — would remain an “extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane” when it reaches populated islands in the southeast Caribbean early Monday.
“All preparations should be rushed to completion today,” it said, urging residents to listen to local government and emergency officials.
It said Beryl would bring “potentially catastrophic hurricane-force winds, a life-threatening storm surge, and damaging waves” to the Windward Islands, a cluster of islands including Martinique, Saint Lucia and Grenada, among others.
St Vincent and the Grenadines as well as Grenada were at the highest risk of being at the centre of the storm’s core beginning early Monday, the NHC said.
Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Tobago were all under hurricane warnings, the latest NHC advisory said, while tropical storm warnings or watches were in effect for Martinique and farther along the storm’s path, in southern Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
A state of emergency has been declared in Tobago, the smaller of the two islands that make up Trinidad and Tobago, with schools ordered closed on Monday, top official Farley Augustine said.
In the Barbadian capital of Bridgetown, cars were seen lined up at gas stations, while supermarkets and grocery stores were crowded with shoppers buying food, water and other supplies. Some households were already boarding up their properties.
Beryl became the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season early Saturday morning and quickly strengthened to Category 4, the first ever to reach that level in the month of June, according to NHC records.