Jamaica was hit by a surge of water, strong winds and heavy rains that caused flooding on Wednesday as Hurricane Beryl made light work of its southern coast, claiming at least one life on the island. The Category 4 storm hit Jamaica just days after it swept across the eastern Caribbean, killing at least seven others.
Almost every building on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique in Grenada was left in ruins after the storm hit earlier this week, destroying hospitals and marinas, blowing roofs off homes and leaving tree trunks broken like matchsticks on the sodden ground.
“We have to rebuild from scratch,” said Dickon Mitchell, Grenada’s prime minister.
Ahead of the storm, Jamaica closed airports and issued evacuation orders for low-lying and flood-prone areas. It was the strongest storm to hit the island in more than a decade. The last time a major hurricane passed within 70 miles of Jamaica was in 2007, and it had been even longer since a hurricane made landfall.
The first confirmed death from the storm in Jamaica was a woman who died when a tree fell on her home in the western parish of Hanover, said the head of Jamaica’s disaster response agency, Richard Thompson.
A rescue team is also searching for a 20-year-old man who was swept away in a ravine in Kingston after trying to retrieve a ball he and his friends had been playing with, according to senior police officer Michael Phipps.
In Grenada, officials said about 98 percent of the buildings on Carriacou and Petite Martinique, home to a combined 9,000 to 10,000 people, were damaged or destroyed, including Carriacou’s main medical facility, Princess Royal Hospital. Crops were destroyed, trees were downed and power poles were strewn across streets.
The natural environment is also affected.
“There is literally no vegetation left on Carriacou,” said Mitchell after visiting the islands. “The mangroves have been completely destroyed.”
The death toll is expected to rise as recovery and relief efforts continue. Officials reported three deaths from the storm in Grenada, two of them in Carriacou. Another was reported in the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said Tuesday that three deaths had been reported in the north of that country.
In Jamaica, rescue crews are beginning to clear roads blocked by fallen trees, debris and power poles in several flood-ravaged communities as Hurricane Beryl moves off the island. Officials say about 80 roads have been affected. Many homes and businesses have had their roofs ripped off. Recovery efforts are being hampered by continued heavy rain and strong winds.
Power has been restored in some areas and Jamaicans are trying to count their losses. The south-central parish of St. Elizabeth, known as Jamaica’s “breadbasket” for its role in providing key crops, was hit hard by the storm.
“We have suffered some major losses,” said Lenworth Fulton, head of Jamaica’s largest farmers’ group. “Crops like yams, coconuts, coffee, carrots have been hit hard.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said nearly 500 people had taken refuge in shelters across the island.
And the storm blew off part of the roof of Jamaica’s main airport, Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, which was closed Tuesday night.
Jamaican Transport Minister Daryl Vaz said a plan is being prepared to figure out how the airport will operate while the jet bridge roof for boarding and arrivals is repaired. The storm is expected to hit the Cayman Islands Wednesday night into Thursday morning, with hurricane conditions and storm surges of two to four feet.
In the Cayman Islands, most businesses have begun to close as people line up to make last-minute purchases, enduring painfully slow traffic.
All hotels on the island have also activated emergency plans and flights have evacuated more than 1,000 people.
Cayman Islands Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly said the shelter-in-place order will go into effect Wednesday evening.
“Let us stay calm, let us be prepared, let us look after each other as we face this challenge together,” she said at a press conference. “We can minimize the impact of Hurricane Beryl and protect our communities if we do it together.”
But the government’s actions do not comfort Puspa Rumba-Marcum, 40.
“Despite what the leaders say, I am really scared,” said Ms. Rumba-Marcum, a hairstylist from Nepal. “I’m not sure Cayman is prepared for this.”
Forecasters are watching closely to see if the storm changes strength as it heads toward the Yucatán Peninsula. There are concerns that the storm could re-strengthen if it crosses the Gulf of Mexico later this week. It is expected to make landfall somewhere along the western Gulf of Mexico on Sunday or Monday, but its strength and exact path remain uncertain.
The Mexican government has issued a hurricane warning for the Yucatán Peninsula, which stretches from Puerto Costa Maya to Cancun along the east coast.
The storm set a record as the first Category 4 hurricane — and later the first Category 5 hurricane — to form in the Atlantic this early in the season. Recent research found that as ocean temperatures rise, Atlantic storms are more likely to develop into major hurricanes in as little as 24 hours.
Grenada’s Prime Minister, Mr Mitchell, said the powerful storm was a direct result of global warming and that Grenada and similar countries were on the front lines of the climate crisis.
“We are no longer willing to accept that we are continually experiencing significant, tangible loss and damage caused by climate events and are expected to rebuild year after year while the countries responsible for creating this situation — and exacerbating it — sit idly by,” he said.
Jovan Johnson contributing reporting from Kingston, Jamaica; Daphne Ewing-Chow from George Town, Cayman Islands; and Linda Straker from Gouyave, Grenada.
