Hurricane Beryl has passed over Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and several other southern Caribbean islands as the Category 5 storm heads northwest through the region on Tuesday. According to The Weather Channel, Beryl has become the earliest Category 5 storm in the Atlantic in history, beating the previous earliest by about two weeks. As of Tuesday morning, it has maximum sustained winds of 165 mph.
The report adds that roofs were ripped off buildings on Carriacou, while downed trees, flooded streets, power outages and storm surge flooding occurred in the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados and Tobago. The Grenada Tourism Authority early Tuesday morning said that Genada was issued an “all-clear” by the prime minister and National Disaster Management Agency; however, Carriacou and Petite Martinique were still being assessed. Maurice Bishop International Airport is set to reopen at 10 a.m.
Similarly, Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. reported that the island has been given the all-clear and the government is currently conducting an audit of the storm’s impact. Grantley Adams International Airport has already reopened for commercial flights.
Looking forward, Beryl is forecast to remain a powerful hurricane—although weakening slightly—as it approaches Jamaica, where a hurricane warning is in effect. The storm is expected to reach the island Wednesday. The southern coast of Haiti and the Dominican Republic have been issued a tropical storm warning while the Cayman Islands have a hurricane watch in effect. Heavy rainfall and flash flooding are likely to occur in Jamaica, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Those in Belize, Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, Cuba and the southwestern Gulf of Mexico are encouraged to monitor the progress of the storm. Additional warnings or watches will likely be issued later Tuesday or early Wednesday.
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