Hurricane Beryl, a powerful storm that made landfall on Monday as a Category 4 storm, has ripped through the Caribbean, killing at least four people, destroying homes and snapping trees in half.
The storm first hit Carriacou, a small island north of Grenada, on Monday morning, flattening the island in just half an hour and causing extensive damage to neighboring Petite Martinique. Rescue teams left Grenada on Tuesday morning to deliver supplies to both islands and assess the damage.
Carriacou is famous for its coral reefs and diving spots, while Petite Martinique is Most people work as fishermen or boat builders. The two islands have a total population of about 6,000 people. government data.
Late Monday, Hurricane Beryl strengthened into a Category 5 storm and was moving west toward Jamaica.
The storm is an unusual occurrence in an already unusually busy hurricane season that runs through late November. When it developed into a Category 4 storm on Sunday, it was the third-largest ever in the Atlantic in June — and the first time a Category 4 storm has appeared so early in the season.
The storm continued to set records, becoming the first Atlantic hurricane to develop into a Category 5 hurricane this early in the season, by Philip Klotzbacha meteorologist at Colorado State University, specializing in tropical cyclones.
The storm’s rapid strengthening is a direct result of above-average sea surface temperatures, and is also a harbinger of what to expect this hurricane season. A rapidly intensifying storm can be more dangerous because it gives people in areas expected to be affected less time to prepare and evacuate.
