Hurricane Beryl is barreling toward Mexico and possibly the United States after slamming into Jamaica and the Windward Islands. The hurricane brought devastating winds and storm surges that destroyed homes, knocked out power, and killed at least eight people.
The storm remains a “major hurricane” after being downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane on Thursday morning, with maximum sustained winds of 121 mph (195 km/h).
Follow our live broadcast of Hurricane Beryl here.
Beryl cut a deadly path through Jamaica, Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, destroying buildings and killing at least eight people, including one in Jamaica and three in Venezuela, where the hurricane’s outer rings dumped heavy rains.
Winds and rain from Hurricane Jamaica continued to batter Jamaica on Thursday morning as Prime Minister Andrew Holness extended the curfew until 6am.
After Jamaica, the hurricane passed over the Caymon Islands on Thursday and headed towards the Yucatán Peninsula and Belize.
According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, Beryl is expected to weaken slightly over the next day or two, but will still be at or near major hurricane strength when it reaches Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday night or late Friday.
Officials in Mexico warned the storm could deliver a “rare” double whammy.
Laura Velazquez, head of Mexico’s civil protection agency, said the hurricane is expected to make landfall on a relatively sparsely populated stretch of the Caribbean coast, between Tulum and the inland town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto.
Because the coast there consists largely of lagoons and mangrove forests, there are few resorts or hotels in the area south of Tulum.
The hurricane is expected to weaken to a tropical storm as it passes the Yucatan Peninsula and return to gale force in the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend..
Ms Velazquez said Beryl is expected to make a second stop in Mexican territory, in the Gulf Coast states of Veracruz and Tamaulipas, near the border with Texas.
If Hurricane Beryl continues to strengthen, it could hit southern Texas and Louisiana this weekend, the National Weather Service said.
Beryl previously broke records by becoming the first Category 4 hurricane and later the first Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean.
Officials in the Windward Islands, where Beryl first made landfall, received “widespread reports of destruction and devastation in Carriacou and Petite Martinique,” Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said.
“In half an hour Carriacou was razed to the ground.”
A total of eight deaths have been confirmed. The first death was reported in Jamaica on Thursday, and four people have died in the Windward Islands. One person was killed in Grenada’s capital, St. George’s, when a tree fell on a house.
Three deaths have been reported in Venezuela, where rainfall from Hurricane Beryl’s outer rings caused flooding and landslides.
“We hope there are no other deaths or injuries,” Mitchell said. “But be aware of the challenge we have in Carriacou and Petite Martinique.”
Authorities were trying to assess the situation on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique as quickly as possible. There were initial reports of extensive damage, but communication remained a problem, he said.
On the Grenadine island of Union Island, about 90 percent of homes were damaged or destroyed, he said.
Beryl is only the second storm to reach Category 5 intensity in July, following Emily in mid-July 2005.
Earlier on Sunday, it became the first storm ever to reach Category 4 strength, and the first to do so in June.
The hurricane was downgraded to a Category 3 storm on Sunday evening, but increased in strength and speed over warm sea waters and was upgraded to a Category 4 storm on Monday morning.
With Hurricane Saint Vincent and the Grenadines set to hit during Carnival weekend, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves on Sunday urged residents to postpone their festivities and prepare for Beryl’s arrival.
According to Mr Gonsalves, he has already ordered the early closure of bars and postponed a number of Carnival events. Running News.
Airports in Barbados, Grenada and St. Lucia were also closed Sunday night in preparation for the storm. However, Grenada’s Maurice Bishop International Airport reopened Tuesday.
The storm is expected to remain a major hurricane as it moves across the Caribbean. A tropical storm warning is in effect for the southern coast of Hispaniola.
A hurricane warning was also issued on Tuesday for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac and the coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula from Puerto Costa Maya to Cancun, including Cozumel.
After Beryl makes landfall in Mexico, it is forecast to weaken. But a computer model of Hurricane Beryl’s many possible paths, known as a “spaghetti” model, showed the path the devastating storm could take as it heads toward the southeastern U.S. in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
The model showed the storm could possibly blow toward the Gulf Coast, near East Texas and Louisiana.
Global warming, caused by the burning of coal, oil and gas, has increased temperatures on land and in the ocean. Warmer ocean waters fuel hurricanes. In the area where Beryl lies, ocean temperatures are 2 to 3 degrees above normal for this time of year, levels not normally seen until September.