Holiday makers in the Caribbean have been evacuated to get out of harm’s way as Hurricane Beryl brought devastation to the region, causing deaths and significant damage..
Hurricane Beryl is expected to impact Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Mexico, with the potential for significant damage from storm surge, high winds, and flooding.
Air Transat has assisted in flying Canadians back from Jamaica before the airports closed due to the storm, with rescue flights landing safely in Montreal and Toronto.
Residents in Jamaica are evaluating the destruction caused by Beryl, which unleashed destructive winds and storm surge on the Caribbean island. The storm resulted in the deaths of two individuals in Jamaica, as well as seven others in different locations, and left a significant number of homes without power. Beryl represented the most powerful storm to affect the country in over 15 years.
Late Monday, Beryl became the earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic and peaked at winds of 270 kph. Grenada’s Carriacou island was “flattened” when Beryl made landfall as a Category 4 storm, according to its prime minister.
The United States National Weather Service is predicting there will be 17-25 named Atlantic storms this year, much higher than historical averages.
