An alert was raised across the southeastern Caribbean on Sunday as Beryl strengthened into the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season, with forecasters warning of an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 hurricane.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Beryl – which is currently moving over the Atlantic Ocean about 465 miles (750 kilometers) east of Barbados – is expected to bring “life-threatening winds and storm surge” when it reaches the Windward Islands on Monday morning.
Warning that the hurricane would “rapidly intensify”, the NHC forecast that it would become an “extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane” by the time it reached Caribbean communities.
In its latest advisory, the NHC said Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada are all under hurricane warnings, while tropical storm warnings or watches are in effect for Martinique, Tobago, and Dominica.
On Saturday, lines of vehicles lined up at petrol stations in the Barbadian capital, Bridgetown, while supermarkets and grocery stores were crowded with people buying food, water and other supplies. Some homes were already locked down.
On the Saffir-Simpson scale, a Category 3 or higher is considered a major hurricane, and a Category 4 hurricane has winds of at least 130 mph (209 kph).
By about 5 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Sunday, Beryl’s maximum sustained wind speeds had increased to nearly 100 mph, with gusts also higher, the NHC said.
Experts said it’s extremely rare for such a powerful storm to form so early in the Atlantic hurricane season (which runs from early June to late November).
“Only five major (Category 3+) hurricanes have ever been recorded in the Atlantic before the first week of July. Beryl will be the sixth and the first to form in the tropical Atlantic far east,” hurricane expert Michael Lowry wrote on social media platform X.
“Stormy conditions are expected throughout the hurricane warning area through Monday morning,” the NHC said, warning of heavy rainfall, flooding and storm surge that could cause water levels to rise up to 9 feet (2.7 meters) above normal.
“Catastrophic wind damage is expected where Beryl’s eyewall passes through portions of the Windward Islands,” the NHC said, indicating that wind speeds in some locations could be as much as 30 percent higher than those listed in their advisory.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in late May that this year’s hurricane season is expected to be “exceptional,” with up to seven storms of Category 3 or higher.
The agency cited warmer temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean and conditions related to the seasonal phenomenon La Nina in the Pacific Ocean for the expected increase in storms.
Extreme weather events, including hurricanes, have become more frequent and more destructive in recent years as a result of climate change.
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