San Juan Puerto Rico – He huracán Beryl was approaching the southeast of the Caribbean and authorities implored people Sunday night to take shelter from the dangerous Category 3 storm.
The storm is expected to make landfall in the southern Windward Islands on Monday morning. Hurricane warnings were in effect for Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, Tobago and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“This is a very dangerous situation,” the National Hurricane Center in Miami warned, adding that Beryl was “forecast to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge.”
The storm was centered about 175 kilometers (110 miles) south-southeast of Barbados on Monday morning. It had maximum sustained winds of 195 kph (120 mph) and was moving west at 31 kph (20 mph). It was a compact storm with hurricane-force winds extending 45 km (30 miles) from its center.
It reached Category 4 status on Sunday before weakening slightly, with further changes in strength expected.
There was a tropical storm warning for Martinique and Trinidad. A tropical storm warning was issued for Dominica, the entire southern coast of Haiti, and from Punta Palenque in the Dominican Republic westward to the border with Haiti.
Beryl is forecast to pass south of Barbados early Monday and then enter the Caribbean Sea as a Category 3 or stronger hurricane heading toward Jamaica. It is forecast to weaken by midweek, but will remain a hurricane as it heads toward Mexico.
A historic hurricane
Beryl had strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane by Sunday morning, becoming the first hurricane of that category or higher east of the Lesser Antilles on record in June, according to Philip Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University.
In just 42 hours, Beryl was upgraded from a tropical depression to a Category 3 hurricane or higher, a feat that has only been documented six other times in Atlantic hurricane history, according to hurricane expert Sam Lillo. Sept. 1 was the earliest that had happened, he said.
Beryl then gained more power, becoming the earliest Category 4 hurricane on record this season, surpassing Hurricane Dennis, which strengthened to a Category 4 storm on July 8, 2005, said hurricane specialist Michael Lowry. and storm surge expert.
Hurricane Ivan in 2004 was the last Category 3 or higher hurricane to hit the southeastern Caribbean, causing catastrophic damage in Grenada upon landing as a Category 3 hurricane.
“So this is a serious, very serious threat,” Lowry said, referring to Beryl.
Forecasters warned of a dangerous storm surge of up to 3 meters (9 feet) in areas where Beryl makes landfall, with up to 15 cm (6 inches) of rain for Barbados and nearby islands that could reach 25 cm (10 inches) in some points.
Warm waters are feeding Beryl, said Brian McNoldy, a tropical meteorology researcher at the University of Miami, who noted that ocean heat content in the deep Atlantic is the highest on record for this time of year.
Lowry said the waters are warmer now than they would be at the peak of hurricane season in September.
It is the first time a hurricane has formed this far east in the tropical Atlantic in June since records began, breaking a long-standing record set in 1933, Klotzbach said.
“Please take this very seriously and prepare,” said Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. “This is a terrible hurricane.”
Beyond Beryl
Caribbean leaders were preparing not only for Beryl, but also for a group of thunderstorms moving further behind the hurricane and having a 70% chance of becoming a tropical depression.
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 heavy rains that caused the deaths of four people.
A tropical depression formed near the eastern Mexican port of Veracruz on Sunday night. The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned of possible flooding and landslides.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts that the 2024 hurricane season will be much above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. Up to 13 hurricanes and four hurricanes of category 3 or greater are expected.
An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.
Source: AP
