CNN
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Hurricane Beryl is roaring through the Windward Islands as an extremely dangerous Category 4, delivering violent winds, intense rainfall and life-threatening storm surge after making landfall Monday.
Beryl made landfall shortly after 11:00 a.m. EDT on Grenada’s Carriacou Island in the Caribbean Sea with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph. It is the strongest known hurricane to pass through the Grenadines, according to data from NOAA that goes back to 1851.
The storm triggered power outages, flooded streets and ushered in storm surge flooding for parts of the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados and Tobago Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Beryl’s arrival marks an exceptionally early start to the Atlantic hurricane season. On Sunday it became the earliest Category 4 on record in the Atlantic Ocean and the only Category 4 in the month of June. The abnormally warm ocean waters that facilitated Beryl’s alarming strengthening are a clear indicator that this hurricane season will be far from normal in a world warming due to fossil fuel pollution.
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Beryl is breaking records for June because the ocean is as warm now as it would normally be at the peak of hurricane season, said Jim Kossin, a hurricane expert and science advisor at nonprofit First Street Foundation.
“Hurricanes don’t know what month it is, they only know what their ambient environment is,” Kossin told CNN. “Beryl is breaking records for the month of June because Beryl thinks it’s September.”
Kossin added the ocean heat fueling Beryl’s unprecedented strengthening “certainly have a human fingerprint on them.”
• Beryl is a dangerous hurricane: The storm is located near Carriacou Island, which is part of Grenada, has sustained winds of 150 mph and is moving to the west-northwest at 20 mph. Beryl’s hurricane-force winds extend 40 miles from center while tropical-storm-force winds extend about 125 miles.
• Life-threatening storm surge and flooding: The National Hurricane Center warned that “life-threatening storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 6 to 9 feet above normal tide levels” when Beryl made landfall. Towering waves could also create life-threatening surf and rip currents and threaten small vessels and fishermen well after landfall. Flash flooding is also a concern in parts of the Windward Islands and Barbados. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley warned citizens to be “extremely vigilant.”
• Hurricane warnings: Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadine Islands, Grenada and Tobado. A hurricane watch is in effect for Jamaica. Tropical storm warnings are in effect for Martinique, Trinidad and St. Lucia. Tropical storm watches are in effect for the south coast of Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque westward to the border with Haiti, and the south coast of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Anse-d’Hainault.
• Hundreds evacuated: More than 400 people were being housed in hurricane shelters across Barbados on Sunday night, the nation’s Chief Shelter Warden, Ramona Archer-Bradshaw, told CNN affiliate CBC News. “I am pleased that people are using the shelters, if they are not comfortable at their homes, it is best to go to a shelter,” she said.
Ricardo Mazalan/AP
Hurricane Beryl floods a street in Hastings, Barbados, Monday.
Ricardo Mazalan/AP
Waves batter palm trees as Hurricane Beryl impacts Hastings, Barbados, Monday.
• State of emergency in Grenada: A state of emergency was declared by Grenadian Governor General Cecile La Grenade which will remain in effect from Sunday night to Tuesday morning. All businesses will must close except the police force, hospitals, prisons, waste disposal and ports.
• Airports closed: Airports in Barbados, Grenada and Saint Lucia were closed Sunday night as Beryl approached. Grenada’s Maurice Bishop…
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