Hurricane Beryl strengthens to Category 5 status, brings devastation to southeast Caribbean

Hurricane Beryl strengthened to Category 5 status late Monday (Jul1) as itripped doors, windows and roofs off homes across the southeastern Caribbean. Beryl made landfallon the island of Carriacou in Grenada as the earliest Category 4 storm in the Atlantic, a report by the news agency Associated Press said.

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Later in the day, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said its winds increased to 260 kilometres per hour.

According to Prime MinisterDickon Mitchell, one person died in the disaster. Prime Minister Mitchell could not yet say if there were other fatalities because authorities had not been able to assess the situationon the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique.

“We do hope there aren’t any other fatalities or any injuries. But bear in mind the challenge we have in Carriacou and Petite Martinique," he added.

The hurricane's impact

The Associated Press report said that streets from St.Lucia Island south to Granda werestrewn with shoes, trees, downed power lines and other debris. Banana trees were snapped in half and cows lay deadin green pastures with homes made of tin and plywood tilting precariously nearby.

Beryl was still swiping the southeast Caribbean late Monday as it pushed into theCaribbean Sea on a track heading just south of Jamaica and toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula by late Thursday as a Category 1 storm.

Hurricane warning in effect for Jamaica

HurricaneBeryl was about 825 kilometreseast-southeast of Isla Beata in the Dominican Republic and was moving west-northwest at 33 kilometres per hour.A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica, and a tropical storm warning for the southern coast of Hispaniola.

The last strong hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada.

(With inputs from agencies)