Hurricane Beryl strengthens into ‘potentially catastrophic’ storm
Al Jazeera
Beryl, the earliest Category 4 storm ever reported, is moving towards Jamaica after hitting the island of Carriacou in Grenada.
Hurricane Beryl has intensified into a “potentially catastrophic” Category 5 storm, the United States’s National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, as it headed towards Jamaica after bringing down power lines, damaging houses and flooding streets on other southeastern Caribbean islands.
Beryl, the earliest Category 4 storm ever reported, made landfall earlier on Monday on the island of Carriacou in Grenada.
“Beryl is now a potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane,” the NHS said in a bulletin at 11.00pm (03:00 GMT). “Fluctuations in strength are likely… but Beryl is expected to still be near major hurricane intensity” as it moves across the Caribbean.
Carriacou took a direct hit early in the day from the storm’s “extremely dangerous eyewall,” with sustained winds at upwards of 240km per hour (150 mph), the NHC said.
Nearby islands, including Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines, also experienced “catastrophic winds and life-threatening storm surge”, the hurricane centre said.
