Caribbean countries are warning residents to take emergency measures as a powerful and potentially deadly hurricane gains strength as it approaches.
Beryl, the first named hurricane of the season, is expected to hit several islands Sunday evening.
The hurricane has been classified by meteorologists as a “very dangerous” category three storm, meaning it is expected to have wind speeds of 111-130 mph (179-209 km/h).
The major storm is expected to strengthen further as it approaches the Caribbean islands of Barbados, Dominica, Grenada and Martinique.
Across the region, people are sealing off their homes, lining up for fuel at gas stations and stocking up on supplies and water in preparation for the storm.
In an address to the nation on Saturday evening, Barbados' Prime Minister urged residents to keep a close eye on their friends, family and neighbors as the hurricane makes landfall.
Forecasters say Hurricane Beryl, which formed from a tropical storm on Friday night, already has winds of 115 mph (185 kph) and is expected to strengthen further before reaching the western Caribbean.
They predict that by the time the storm hits the Windward Islands – made up of Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada – there will be “hurricane-force” 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. The storm's heavy rains killed four people.
The Barbados Meteorological Service warned of power outages and flash flooding as the eye of the hurricane is expected to pass about 45 kilometers south of the island.
The storm is expected to drop up to 6 inches of rain on the Caribbean islands, including Barbados.
People lock up their homes and crowd at supermarkets and gas stations in Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados.
“We remain absolutely vigilant and must take every precaution possible for ourselves, our families and our neighbors,” Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Motley said on Saturday.
In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves urged supermarket and gas station owners to extend their operating hours ahead of the hurricane's arrival, adding that emergency shelters would open on Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, meteorologist Ithoma James urged people to be prepared in a briefing shared online by Dominica's government: warning hurricanes could be “devastating.”
According to meteorologists, the hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, will be a busy one this year.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued its most surprising warning yet for the current season, with forecasters predicting that up to 25 named storms could occur in 2024.
According to NOAA, eight to 13 of these storms could develop into hurricanes.
Somewhere between four and seven of those storms could strengthen into Category 3 or greater hurricanes, more than double the usual number.
Hurricane Beryl is now one of the first storms NOAA has warned about.
Michael Lowry, a hurricane expert, wrote on social media that it was “astonishing” to see a category three or more storm forecast so early in the season “anywhere in the Atlantic Ocean, let alone this far east in the deep tropics'.
“There have been only five major hurricanes (Category 3+) recorded in the Atlantic Ocean before the first week of July. Beryl would be the sixth and earliest recorded in the far eastern tropical Atlantic.”
Hurricanes are categorized on a scale of one to five, with storms being category five the most extreme winds above 250 km/h (155 mph). The stronger the hurricane, the more damage it can cause.
There were 19 named storms in the 2023 hurricane season.
