‘Unprecedented barely covers’ Beryl’s record-breaking rampage

By Chelsea Harvey | 07/02/2024 06:21 AM EDT

It’s the first Atlantic hurricane to hit Category 4 so early in the season.

A surfer braves the waves in Carlisle Bay as Hurricane Beryl passes through Bridgetown, Barbados.

A surfer braves the waves in Carlisle Bay as Hurricane Beryl passes through Bridgetown, Barbados, on Monday. Ricardo Mazalan/AP

Hurricane Beryl made landfall Monday on Grenada’s Carriacou Island as a monster Category 4 storm, with maximum wind speeds as fast as 150 mph — putting it just shy of a Category 5. It’s the first Atlantic hurricane to reach Category 4 so early in the season, fueled by record-breaking ocean heat.

The extent of the damage was not immediately clear as of Monday afternoon. But Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell warned Monday that authorities expect the damages “to be extreme.”

“We therefore expect that we will have to quickly transition into damage assessment and recovery and stabilization mode,” he said in a live-streamed address Monday. “We have reports of extensive loss of roof and damage to buildings. There is no electricity on any of the islands, and communication is also difficult.”

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Beryl is currently moving west across the Caribbean, and as of Monday evening, it was still uncertain where it would strike next. Current projections suggest the storm may at least side-swipe Jamaica, which is currently under a hurricane watch, before likely making landfall again in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula toward the end of this week.

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