Hurricane Beryl, the powerful record storm that killed at least seven people, it weakened slightly on Tuesday as it heads toward Jamaica, but is still a major Category 4 hurricane with potentially deadly winds and storm surge.
The storm, which was expected to directly hit or pass near Jamaica on Wednesday, was a Category 5 with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph — making it the strongest July hurricane on record, beating Emily in 2015, according to the National Center of Hurricanes.
As of Tuesday night, it was a Category 4 storm with winds of 150 mph, and it will still be a major or near-major hurricane when it passes through or over Jamaica, forecasters warned.
“Beryl is still a very powerful Category 4 hurricane,” National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said in a video briefing Tuesday.
Jamaica will experience tropical storm force winds on Wednesday morning and then hurricane conditions, the National Hurricane Center said in a bulletin. The center of the storm was about 300 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, at 11 p.m. ET Tuesday, and was moving west south of Haiti.
“Everyone is worried. Everyone I’ve talked to so far is worried — about how this will affect their livelihood, how they’ll get money,” Lacie McKenzie, 21, a bar owner in Kingston, told NBC News.
The storm has already been blamed for seven deaths — three people died in Grenada, three died in Venezuela and one person was killed in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, authorities said.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said four people were still missing.
The hurricane hit Grenada’s Carriacou Island in the Windward Islands at 11:10 a.m. Monday as it approached the Caribbean. Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said there are many downed power lines and roads that are not passable.
“The situation is grim,” Mitchell said. “There is no port. There is almost complete destruction of houses and buildings on the island.”
Jamaica issued a hurricane warning and Prime Minister Andrew Holness urged people to seek higher, safer ground, make preparations and not wait.
“We have an impending disaster and we have to treat it with the seriousness it demands,” Holness said. “We’re going to have some adverse climate impacts, whether it’s a direct hit or a glancing blow… and so everyone needs to be in a mental state of readiness now.”
McKenzie, a bar owner in Kingston, said she and others she knows do not plan to evacuate even though they are in a low-lying area.
“They are not going away. None of us are. Let’s stand and hold on,” she said.
After passing near or over Jamaica on Wednesday, the hurricane is expected to approach the Cayman Islands on Thursday before hitting the Yucatan Peninsula in the evening.
Storm surge in Jamaica could reach 5 to 8 feet above normal tide levels, with up to a foot of rain possible there and in the southwest of the Haitian peninsula through Wednesday. In the Cayman Islands, where there is also a hurricane warning, a storm surge could raise water levels 2 to 4 feet above normal.
The southern coast of Haiti was under a hurricane warning and tropical storm warning, and the southern coast of the Dominican Republic was also under a tropical storm warning.
“We are most concerned about Jamaica, where we expect the nucleus of a major hurricane to pass near or over the island during the day tomorrow,” Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center, said Tuesday.
Beryl’s effects could even reach the continental U.S., with minor coastal flooding in southeast Texas or southwest Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service field office in Lake Charles, Louisiana. More impacts are possible if the hurricane moves further north than expected.
In Grenada, authorities were working to restore communications damaged by the storm.
“We have lost almost 95% of the roof and housing stock in Petite Martinique and in Carriacou,” said Arthur Pierre, deputy coordinator of Grenada’s emergency management agency, NaDMA, in a video conference on Tuesday.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said the storm left “immense destruction”.
“Union Island was devastated,” he said. “The reports I received indicate that 90% of the homes were seriously damaged or destroyed.”
Beryl is the first hurricane rated Category 4 or higher to appear in June and the first Category 4 storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. It is also the strongest hurricane to pass through the Windward Islands, which include Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia and Martinique.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
