Hurricane Beryl tracker: Jamaica braces for Category 4 storm as death toll rises to 7

The entire island of Jamaica has been declared a ‘disaster area’ ahead of Hurricane Beryl’s arrival.

Prime minister Andrew Holness made the pre-emptive announcement on Tuesday night in an address to the public ahead of the storm’s arrival on Wednesday.

An island-wide curfew will also be in place from 6am to 6pm local time (11am-11pm GMT) on Wednesday.Three airports – Sangster International (Montego Bay), Norman Manley International (Kingston) and Ian Fleming International (Ocho Rios) – were shut down on Tuesday evening and will remain closed through Wednesday.

Jamaica is right on the path of the hurricane which is heading to the island with as a Category 4 storm with 155mph.

Beryl charted a deadly path through Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines, destroying buildings and killing at least seven.

Grenada’s Maurice Bishop International Airport reopened Tuesday morning after Hurricane Beryl swept through the region yesterday, a spokesperson for the island’s tourism authority said in a statement.

“However, we’re deeply saddened by the widespread damage and news of fatalities on our sister islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique,” the spokesperson continued. “We are working closely with the emergency services to ensure support and relief efforts are in place as soon as possible, as well as the restoration of vital services.”

Several airports in the eastern Caribbean saw widespread cancelations as Hurricane Beryl blew through.

A special Air India flight has landed in Barbados to evacuate the Indian cricket team which got stranded in the Caribbean due to Hurricane Beryl.

The team, along with coaches and officials from the cricket board, will fly back to India on Wednesday, news agency ANI reported.

The world-cup winners were celebrating their victory when airports shut down on Sunday due to Hurricane Beryl, leaving the the players and officials stranded in Barbados, along with many cricket fans.

Venezuela has announced a third death as the death toll from Hurricane Beryl rises to at least seven people.

Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro announced on Tuesday that the deceased included two men and one woman from the northeastern town of Cumanacoa, in the state of Sucre.

“May they rest in peace, our condolences, and sentiments to their families. I have ordered full support to the families,” Mr Maduro said.

In other regions, four people – one in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and three others in Grenada – died when Beryl tore through the islands on Monday night.

Mr Maduro said four people are still missing and 8,000 homes have been affected, with 400 of them completely destroyed, according to the president.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have suffered hundreds of millions of dollars worth of “horrendous” damages after Hurricane Beryl, the prime minister said.

“This is a horrific hurricane,” said Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to Al Jazeera, adding that houses, schools and health facilities were without electricity and some parts didn’t have drinking water

“On the main island of Saint Vincent, we have had substantial damage, horrendous damage but not to the same extent as the devastation in the southern part,” he said on Tuesday.

“It could be hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage and loss.”

As Hurricane Beryl rages through the Caribbean Sea, President Joe Biden spoke on the impacts of the climate crisis.

“Everyone who wilfully denies the impacts of climate change is condemning the American people to a dangerous future, and either is really, really dumb or has some other motive,” Biden said on Tuesday afternoon.

Record-warm ocean temperatures gave Hurricane Beryl the strength to grow from a tropical depression to a Category 4 storm in a matter of days.

While natural weather patterns like La Nina can help drive catastrophic storms like Hurricane Beryl, the human-driven climate crisis still plays a role, as oceans absorb more than 90 percent of excess heat produced by greenhouse gases.

High water temperatures can contribute to sea level rise and hurt marine life in addition to fueling strong storms like Hurricane Beryl. Ocean temperatures will likely continue to rise even if we curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to NOAA.

AccuWeather meteorologists say X labeled their projected Hurricane Beryl path as “false information” but allowed other obvious misinformation on the site – a decision that could cost lives.

At least six people have died as Hurricane Beryl sweeps through the eastern Caribbean.