Hurricane Beryl closed in Monday on the southeastern Caribbean after strengthening to an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, with meteorologists warning of “life-threatening winds and storm surge.”
The storm was expected to make landfall Monday morning on the Windward Islands, with maximum rainfall of up to 10 inches expected in the Grenadines and up to 6 inches across Barbados, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said early Monday. Hurricane warnings were in effect for Barbados, St. Vincent and Grenadine Islands, Grenada and Tobago.
“This is a very dangerous situation,” the NHC said in a separate post early Monday, pleading with residents to heed local government warnings to take shelter.
Early Monday, the hurricane was centered around 70 miles east of Grenada, the center said. With maximum sustained winds of 130 miles an hour, it said Beryl was expected to “remain a dangerous major hurricane” as it moves through the Windward Islands.
Beryl will continue moving westward, across the southeastern and central Caribbean Sea at least until Wednesday, the agency added. It was moving at around 20 miles an hour.
“Potentially catastrophic wind damage is expected where the core of Beryl moves,” it said. The storm could also raise water levels by as much as 9 feet above normal tide levels, accompanied by “large and destructive waves.”
Winds from the hurricane were extending 35 miles outward from the center, while the winds from the tropical storm could extend up to 115 miles. The Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados recorded gusts up to 45 miles an hour, it added.
Beryl had been gaining strength last week, and became an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm as it approached the Islands early Sunday before leveling off slightly. While the winds had slightly decreased overnight, the center said, “the area of stronger winds has grown, so the hazards of the hurricane are likely to affect a larger area.”
In Barbados, officials began opening emergency shelters Sunday evening, ordering the closure of all businesses by 7 p.m. Its water authority also urged people to store potable water as water lines would be shut out of precaution.
Thousands of people descended upon the Caribbean island to watch the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup final on the weekend. But the worsening weather meant many including the triumphant India team had not been able to leave.
“Some of them have never gone through a storm before,” Prime Minister Mia Mottley said, according to the Associated Press.
Early Monday, the country’s meteorological department said it had recorded gusts up to 64 miles an hour. Marine conditions “continue to deteriorate,” it said in an advisory, adding Beryl’s center was forecast to move about 80 miles south of the island.
U.S. forecasters added said that while Beryl is expected to turn more westward, “it is too soon to discuss what could happen with Beryl if it makes it into the Gulf of Mexico.”
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