Team Blitz India
AT least one person has died after Hurricane Beryl made landfall in several countries in the Caribbean. Thousands of people remain without power or are living in temporary shelters in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and St Lucia. The hurricane was upgraded to a Category 5 and is moving west towards Jamaica. It is expected to hit south-east Mexico by the end of the week, according to BBC.
Roofs blown off
Images on social media showed homes with their roofs blown off and residents picking through rubble to salvage their possessions. After Hurricane Beryl made landfall on Carriacou Island in Grenada, it became clear that several parts of the Caribbean in its path had been hit hard.
“In half an hour, Carriacou was flattened,” according to Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell. Meanwhile, Ralph Gonsalves, premier of St Vincent and the Grenadines, said one person had died and that there could be more fatalities. Earlier, airports and businesses were shut down and residents urged to seek shelter as the storm approached.
In a news briefing, Mitchell warned: “We are not yet out of the woods.” Grenada has also experienced several power outages, impacting communications and access to government updates. Maximum sustained winds for the hurricane are near 150 mph (241km/h), according to the NHC’s latest update, as the storm moves west. A hurricane watch is in effect for Jamaica. The hurricane was upgraded to a Category 4 after slightly weakening earlier.
The NHC said fluctuations in strength were likely to continue but warned that portions of the Windward islands should prepare for “potentially catastrophic wind damage”. It said St Vincent and the Grenadines as well as Grenada were at the highest risk of damage.
Seven hurricanes expected
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has warned that the North Atlantic could get as many as seven major hurricanes this year – up from an average of three in a season.
