Hurricane Beryl battered the southern coast of Jamaica on Wednesday with dangerous winds and storm surges, and is set to reach Mexico on Thursday, causing at least seven deaths and considerable damage in the southeastern Caribbean and Venezuela.
Beryl is a Category 4 hurricane on a five-point scale and is particularly powerful for this start of the season, with winds reaching up to 215 km/h, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Its passage through the island of Jamaica left more than 400,000 residents without electricity and “flash floods and landslides linked to torrential rains” are still expected overnight, according to the NHC.
In a video posted on social media, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness urged residents to “respect evacuation orders.”
He also “implored” all people living in flood-prone areas to seek “a shelter or safer ground.”
Beryl is next expected to pass near or over the Cayman Islands before heading toward Mexico and Belize, according to the NHC.
Schools close in southeastern Mexico
In the Yucatan Peninsula in southeastern Mexico, authorities have already closed schools and prepared hundreds of shelters for the population. They have also announced the deployment of hundreds of soldiers and technicians for power lines.
This is the first storm to reach Category 4 status in June and Category 5 status in July since the NHC has been keeping records.
Scientists believe that climate change, by warming ocean waters that foster these storms, is increasing the likelihood that they will intensify rapidly, and the risk of more powerful hurricanes.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell, who has family on Carriacou Island, told AFP that climate change was “leading to catastrophes of unprecedented levels of destruction.”
Source: Agencies
