Hurricane Beryl is barrelling towards Jamaica after battering the southeastern Caribbean, killing at least six people across the region and flattening some 90 percent of homes on one island in the Grenadines archipelago.
Beryl – the earliest storm on record to reach Category 5, the highest on the Saffir-Simpson Scale – was expected to start losing intensity on Tuesday evening. But forecasters said it would still be an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm when it passes near or over Jamaica on Wednesday and near the Cayman Islands on Thursday.
Scientists cited human-caused climate change as the likely culprit for the storm’s rapid strengthening.
On Tuesday night, the storm was located about 300 miles (480km) east-southeast of the Jamaican capital, Kingston, with top winds of 150mph (250kmph), and officials there warned residents to gather provisions and safeguard their homes.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in the United States said Jamaica appears to be in the direct path of Beryl and that the storm would bring life-threatening winds, heavy rainfall and storm surges to the island nation.
Credit: aljazeera.com
