SAN JUAN – He hurricane Beryl reached Category 3 on Sunday morning, and forecasters expected it to become a powerful Category 4 storm on its way to the southeast of the Caribbean, which began to be prepared amid urgent requests from authorities for people to seek shelter.
Hurricane warnings have been issued for Barbados, Saint Lucia, Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
“It is a very serious situation that is arising” for the northern Windward Islands, the Center warned Hurricane National in Miami, who said that Beryl was expected to “bring life-threatening winds and storm surge (…) like an extremely dangerous hurricane”.
Beryl on Sunday became the first major hurricane — Category 3 or higher — documented east of the Lesser Antilles in June, according to Philip Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University.
Beryl was only the third storm to reach Category 3 status on record in the Atlantic in June, after Audrey in 1957 and Alma in 1866, according to hurricane expert Michael Lowry. That was the case with Dennis and Emily in July 2005, Klotzbach said.
Early Sunday, before authorities upgraded its category, the storm was about 750 kilometers (465 miles) east-southeast of Barbados and was moving west at 33 kilometers per hour (21 miles per hour) with winds of 155 km/h (100 mph).
Two teams of hurricane hunters were on their way to the storm to gather more data on its intensity, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Storm surge
Beryl was expected to pass just south of Barbados early Monday and then enter the Caribbean Sea as a powerful hurricane heading toward Jamaica and later Mexico.
Forecasters warned of a dangerous storm surge of up to 3 metres (9 feet) in areas where Beryl makes landfall, with up to 15 centimetres (6 inches) of rain for Barbados and nearby islands.
Long lines formed at gas stations and grocery stores in Barbados and other islands as people rushed to prepare for a record-breaking storm that has rapidly gained strength from a tropical storm with 35 mph winds on Friday. to a category 1 hurricane on Saturday, and a category 3 on Sunday.
Warm waters fuel the system, and ocean heat content in the deep Atlantic is the highest on record for this time of year, according to Brian McNoldy, a tropical meteorology researcher at the University of Miami.
“We must remain vigilant,” Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said in a public address Saturday night. “We don’t want to put anyone’s life at risk.”
Thousands of people were in Barbados for the final of the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup, considered the biggest event in cricket. Mottley said not all fans were able to leave on Sunday even though many were rushing to change their flights.
“Some of them have never been through a storm before,” he said. “We have plans to take care of them.”
Business and school closures
Mottley said all businesses must close by Sunday night and warned that the airport would close overnight.
For his part, Saint Lucia Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre announced a national lockdown on Sunday night and said schools and businesses would remain closed on Monday.
“The preservation and protection of life is a priority,” he said.
Caribbean leaders are not only worried about Beryl, but also about a group of thunderstorms that are closely following its path and that have a 70% chance of becoming a tropical depression in the middle of next week.
Beryl is the second named storm in what is expected to be a very active hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30 in the Atlantic. A few days ago, Tropical Storm Alberto made landfall in northeastern Mexico, generating intense rains that caused the death of four people.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts the 2024 hurricane season will be well above average, with 17 to 25 named storms. Up to 13 hurricanes and four Category 3 or higher hurricanes are expected.
An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.
Source: With information from AP
