As Hurricane Beryl lashes the Windward Islands, the Jamaican Government has officially issued an official hurricane watch for the island.

The hurricane watch took immediate effect at 10:00 am on Monday, July 1.

A hurricane watch is issued when a tropical cyclone has hurricane-force winds (74 mph) or greater and presents a possible threat to the area in question within 48 hours.

The hurricane watch is second to the hurricane warning, an advisory that notifies that hurricane-like conditions are expected within 36 hours or less, posing a major danger to life and property.

Over the weekend of June 29th–30th, Hurricane Beryl entered the Caribbean, moving between Tobago and Barbados and towards Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, and Martinique.

These islands are currently under a hurricane warning advisory as Hurricane Beryl makes its way
past, carrying with it major storm surges, the risk of flooding, and deadly winds.

Hurricane Beryl is set to make history by being the easternmost June storm on record, as well as the
June’s most major hurricane ever.

On Saturday (June 29) morning, Beryl officially reached a category 1 hurricane level and then quickly intensified to category 4 hurricane in less than 48 hours.

This has made Beryl not only the earliest category 4 hurricane ever recorded but a monster, capable of catastrophic damage, tornado-like winds, severely damaging well-built homes, uprooting trees, and downing power lines.

On early Monday morning, the hurricane made landfall on the island of Carriacou to the north of
Grenada, with the eye of the storm passing directly over the area.

After a brief weakening to a category 3, Beryl strengthened to a category 4 storm with gusts of 150 miles per hour. A category 5 hurricane, the strongest form a tropical cyclone can take, has sustained winds of 157 miles per hour or more, just above Hurricane Beryl’s current power.

The Grenadian government has announced a state of emergency and a curfew, with devastating damage being recorded on the Grenadian islands of Petit Martinique and Carriacou, with rooftops being reported to have been teared off homes, electricity and nearly all communications cut, and strong storm surges.

The Prime Minister of Grenada, Dickon Mitchell, said “expected damage in Carriacou and Petite Martinque was going to be extreme” and that according to his Minister of Carriacou and Petite Martinique Affairs, Tevin Andrews, there was “devastation all around.”

Mitchell went on to say that efforts would be made “to quickly transition into damage assessment and
recovery and stabilization,”  with plans being made to ensure a quick response for the people caught in
the direct path of the storm.

The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) has already announced that it is preparing to deploy personnel to help the stricken people of Petite Martinique and Carriacou.

Hurricane Beryl has continued to move west-northwest at a rate of 20 miles per hour. It is expected
to weaken as it pushes through into the Caribbean Sea, to a category 3 on Tuesday, July 2, and a category 2 on Wednesday, July 3.

According to the storm’s current trajectory by the National Hurricane Centre, it is expected to move just south of Jamaica before making landfall in the Yucatan Peninsula of Belize and Mexico as a category 1 storm.

Prime Minister Holness, in a statement over the weekend at Pembroke Hall High School, strongly
urged Jamaicans to prepare for all the eventualities.

“I am encouraging all Jamaicans to get your precautionary stocks in place. Food, batteries, candles, and supplies of water. If there are trees that could be a danger to your property, please ensure that you take the necessary actions,” Holness said.