Hurricane Beryl depowers most of Jamaica
Hundreds of thousands of homes in Jamaica remain without power in the wake of Hurricane Beryl. The category four storm – one of the most powerful to ever hit the country – swept along the island’s southern coast on Wednesday, July 3, bringing more than 12 hours of heavy rain. Officials and residents are assessing the damage after an island-wide curfew was lifted early on Thursday.
Beryl, which has now weakened to a category two storm, is headed for Mexico and the Cayman Islands. It left a trail of devastation across the Caribbean, killing at least 10 people. St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Venezuela reported three deaths each, while one person died in Jamaica. The storm destroyed almost every home on two small islands in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Mayreau and Union.
The hurricane is expected to bring 10cm (4in) to 15cm (6in) of rain into Friday across the peninsula, with some places getting up to 10 inches. While the winds were extremely strong, they were not the hurricane gusts that were expected. But the hours of heavy rain are a real concern, especially on farmland where flooding has been reported in parishes like St. Elizabeth and Clarendon. Island wide there are reports of minor damages to roads, houses, powerlines, and other infrastructure.
The island continues to be on high alert as strong winds and dangerous storm surges and waves are expected to hit the Yucatan Peninsula by early on Friday, the National Hurricane Center in the United States of America forecasted.
