A more complete picture emerged Wednesday of the extensive damage wrought by Hurricane Beryl’s trek across the Windward Islands, revealing destruction and at least seven deaths.
At least three islands report more than 90% of the homes and buildings either destroyed or severely damaged, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency reported Wednesday.
All three are within the chain of Grenadine Islands, where Beryl roared into the Caribbean on the southern end of the Windwards, between St. Vincent and Grenada.
With 19 participating states across the Caribbean, the agency was helping coordinate disaster response on Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines even as it continued to track Beryl’s movements across Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Belize.
The eye of Beryl, still a Category 4 storm, raked Jamaica’s coast Wednesday afternoon and was expected to pass near the Cayman Islands Thursday morning, before making landfall in the Yucatan on Friday morning.
The damage estimates for the Windwards – where Beryl made landfall over Carriacou – are only “a very preliminary look,” said Elizabeth Riley, the disaster management agency’s executive director.
Beryl struck the islands with sustained winds of 150 mph and higher gusts on Monday, and the National Hurricane Center had warned that winds could be up to 30% higher on the tops of hills and mountains.
The impacts to the Grenadine Islands are “quite significant,” Riley said, leaving residents exposed and vulnerable. Even as recovery efforts began, a tropical wave brought rain and gusty winds Wednesday to the suffering residents.
In a briefing late Tuesday after spending more than two hours in a helicopter provided by the government of St. Lucia, Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell described “total destruction” on the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
“There’s really nothing that can prepare you to see this level of destruction,” Mitchell said. “It is almost Armageddon-like, almost total damage and destruction of all buildings. Complete devastation and destruction of agriculture. Complete and total destruction of the natural environment.”
