Hurricane Beryl ripped through the Caribbean and devastated communities in Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines on Monday – with shocking aerial photos showing the widespread damage.
Beryl, now a Category 3 storm, is currently tracking towards the Cayman Islands and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday, having caused mass destruction to Jamaica, and islands in southeastern Caribbean earlier in the week.
The deadly storm’s core is due to pass over the Yucatan Peninsula early Friday, before emerging over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico Friday night, with southern Texas also told to monitor Beryl’s path.
Life-threatening winds and rain knocked out power to areas of Jamaica. There are more than 900 shelters across the island and an evacuation process was put in place for those in flood-prone and low-lying areas, Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon said as Beryl approached the island earlier in the week.
Jamaica has since discontinued its Hurricane Warning after the hurricane started to move away from the island.
As for the Cayman Islands, weather conditions were already deteriorating Thursday morning as Beryl nears, with more than 1,000 people evacuated ahead of the impact, George Town officials said, the New York Times reports.
Beryl has already left a deadly path in its wake, destroying buildings and killing at least eight, including one in Jamaica and three in Venezuela where outer rings of the hurricane caused heavy rainfall.
“Almost total damage or destruction of all buildings, whether they be public buildings, homes or other private facilities,” Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said, according to CBS News. “Complete devastation and destruction of agriculture. Complete and total destruction of the natural environment. There is literally no vegetation left anywhere on the island of Carriacou.”
While the storm’s path over the weekend is still uncertain, it has the potential to hit southern Texas and Louisiana overnight Sunday into Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
Before and after: Hurricane Beryl devastates the eastern Caribbean
Grenada’s Petite Martinique island, pictured in May 2023 and on July 2, 2024, just one day after Hurricane Beryl swept through the eastern Caribbean. Grenada suffered “unimaginable” destruction after the storm passed through, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said.
Officials have identified at least three people in Grenada who were killed by the hurricane, including a relative of a government official who died in St George’s after a tree collapsed on them.
“This hits home,” Mitchell said. “The deceased person is in fact the relative of one of the persons who spent the last 36 hours with us here at the National Emergency Operating Center.”
St. Vincent and the Grenadine’s Petit St Vincent island, pictured in May 2023 and on July 2, 2024. At least one person died in the nation after Hurricane Beryl slammed into the eastern Caribbean. Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said there may be more fatalities reported in the coming days as an islandwide blackout affects the nation.
“There are a few communities which do not have water because of the system having been blocked,” Gonsalves said.
“The faces of our men and women are strained and anxious,” he continued. “But tomorrow, we get up with the conviction to rebuild our individual lives and our family’s lives. To rebuild our country, to recover.”
Grenada’s Carriacou Island pictured in May 2023 and on July 2, 2024. The small island was “flattened” within half an hour by Hurricane Beryl on Monday, according to Mitchell.
The storm tore off 95 percent of roofs on Carriacou and Petit Martinique. Carriacou Island also saw an “almost complete destruction” of the electrical grid, according to the prime minister.
“The entire communication system is completely destroyed…many people have lost their entire homes,” Mitchell said.
Argyle, Carriacou, pictured in May 2023 and on July 2, 2024. Mitchell described Carriacou as “armageddon-like” in the wake of Hurricane Beryl with scenes of “almost total destruction.”
“Complete devastation and destruction of agriculture, complete and total destruction of the natural environment,” Mitchell said. “There is literally no vegetation left anywhere on the island of Carriacou.”
United Nations officials in Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines are working closely with local leaders to help with recovery efforts.
Secretary General Antonio Guterres has asked for the international community to “show solidarity” with all the Caribbean countries in Hurricane Beryl’s path, a UN spokesperson said.
