Beryl, the first named storm of the season, is expected to make landfall on several Caribbean islands late Sunday.
The massive storm is gaining strength as it moves across the Atlantic toward Barbados, Dominica, Grenada and Martinique, among other Caribbean islands.
Across the region, people are closing their homes, lining up to buy fuel at gas stations and stockpiling supplies and water in preparation for the storm.
In an address to the nation on Saturday night, Barbados’ prime minister urged people to look out for friends, family and neighbors as the storm makes landfall.
Forecasters say Hurricane Beryl, which formed Friday night, has the potential to develop into a Category 3 storm as it moves from the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico in the coming days.
They predict that by the time the storm reaches the Windward Islands — which include Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada — there will be “extremely strong” winds, “life-threatening” storm surges and heavy rainfall.
Beryl is the second named storm of the season after Tropical Storm Alberto, which made landfall in northeastern Mexico on June 20. That storm’s heavy rains killed four people.
The Barbados Meteorological Service issued warnings of power outages and flash flooding as the storm’s center was expected to pass about 26 miles (45 kilometers) south of the island.
The storm is expected to dump up to 6 inches (15 cm) of rain on Caribbean islands, including Barbados.
People are packing up their homes and flocking to supermarkets and petrol stations in Barbados’ capital, Bridgetown.
“We must remain extremely vigilant and need to take every possible precaution for ourselves, our families and our neighbors,” Barbados Prime Minister Mia Motley said on Saturday.
In St Vincent and the Grenadines, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves urged supermarket and petrol station owners to extend opening hours ahead of the storm, adding that emergency shelters would open on Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, in a briefing shared online by the Dominican Government, meteorologist Ithoma James urged people to be prepared, warning that the storms could be “devastating.”
The hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30 this year, is expected to be very busy, according to weather forecasters.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued its most surprising warning to date about the current season. Forecasters say there could be as many as 25 named storms by 2024.
NOAA said eight to 13 of those storms could develop into hurricanes.
Between four and seven of those storms could strengthen into Category 3 or higher storms. That would be more than double the usual number.
If Hurricane Beryl continues on the trajectory some forecasters predict and develops into a Category 3 hurricane, the second named storm of the 2024 hurricane season would be one of the earliest storms NOAA has warned about.
“It’s incredible to see a major hurricane (category 3+) forecast in June anywhere in the Atlantic, let alone this far east in the deep tropics,” hurricane expert Michael Lowry said on social media.
“There have been only five major hurricanes (Category 3+) recorded in the Atlantic before the first week of July. Beryl will be the sixth and earliest hurricane in the tropical Atlantic.”
There will be 19 named storms in the 2023 hurricane season.
