Hurricane Beryl closes in on Caribbean as Category 3 storm
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.”
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 is expected to make landfall in the Windward Islands — which includes Grenada, St. Vincent and Martinique — on Monday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center. Beryl is expected to bring maximum rainfall of up to 10 inches to St. Vincent and the Grenadine Islands and up to 6 inches across Barbados. Hurricane warnings were in effect for Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadine Islands, Grenada and Tobago.
Life-threatening storm surge may raise water levels by 6 to 9 feet near where the center of the Beryl makes landfall in the hurricane warning area, according to the NHC. Large and destructive waves are possible near the coast.
Beryl is the first Category 4 hurricane on record to form in the month of June. The hurricane is also the earliest Category 4 on record for the Atlantic hurricane season, beating the previous record of Hurricane Dennis which formed July 8, 2005.
“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.
Rating: 5