Hurricane Beryl, now classified as a formidable Category 5 storm, continues its path through the Caribbean, posing a threat to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
In the Atlantic hurricane season, Beryl has already made history as the earliest Category 5 ever recorded, fueled by unprecedentedly warm waters, according to The Weather Channel.
The National Hurricane Center reports that Beryl, with sustained winds reaching 165 mph, was approximately 370 miles southeast of Isla Beata in the Dominican Republic as of early Tuesday morning, moving at a pace of 22 mph.
Beryl is expected to begin weakening on July 2 but will likely maintain major hurricane status as it approaches Jamaica on July 3 and the Cayman Islands on July 4. Trajectory projections place the hurricane near Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula by July 5, reported The Dallas Morning News.
Forecasters cautioned about the uncertainty of Beryl’s path, which will track into the southwest Gulf of Mexico by the weekend.
Authorities have issued a hurricane warning for Jamaica and a hurricane watch for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac. According to U.S. News and World Report, the storm’s earlier impact in the southeastern Caribbean had already claimed at least four lives as of the morning of July 2.
In Grenada, where Hurricane Beryl first made landfall as a Category 4 storm, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell emphasized the urgent need for support. The country has been hit with significant damage to infrastructure and homes across Carriacou. Similar devastation has been reported in neighboring islands such as Union Island, Myreau, and Canouan.
The storm’s rapid intensification has caught meteorologists off guard and is breaking multiple records for its early formation and swift transformation into a major hurricane, per DMN.
Beryl moved from a tropical depression to a major hurricane in 42 hours, a feat matched by only six other Atlantic hurricanes, none of which had achieved this status before September.
Beryl is the most eastern hurricane on record for June; one of just two to form east of the Caribbean, the last being in 1933, according to CBS News weather producer David Parkinson.
Parkinson anticipates Beryl will track south of Jamaica, with potential impacts on the United States not expected for at least another eight days.
As emergency response teams mobilize across the Caribbean, residents in the path of Hurricane Beryl are urged to heed evacuation orders and prepare for potentially catastrophic winds, storm surges, and heavy rainfall.