Caribbean braces for ‘Hurricane Beryl’
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Hurricane Beryl plowed toward the southeast Caribbean late Sunday as officials warned residents to seek shelter ahead of powerful winds and swells expected to arrive overnight from the Category 4 storm — the first ever recorded in June.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned residents that Beryl — currently churning in the Atlantic Ocean about 240 kilometers southeast of Barbados — would remain an “extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane” when it reaches populated islands in the southeast Caribbean early Monday.
“Life-threatening winds and storm surge expected to begin soon for portions of the Windward Islands,” the NHC said in its 11 p.m. (0300 GMT Monday) advisory.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as well as Grenada were at the highest risk of being at the center 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.
Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell urged his citizens to quickly seek shelter and to respect an island-wide curfew ordered for 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. until Tuesday morning.
A meeting this week in Grenada of the Caribbean regional bloc CARICOM was also postponed due to the hurricane.
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.
