Hurricane Beryl survivors reveal ‘unimaginable harm’

Hurricane Beryl has left at least seven dead and ‘unimaginable’ and ‘total’ damage across the Caribbean islands as the powerful super storm heads towards Jamaica today.

The Category 4 storm tore through the southeast Caribbean this week with sustained winds of 150mph, flattening entire islands and leaving homes completely in ruins on the ground.

Grenada’s prime minister, after visiting the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, has called the situation ‘Armageddon-like’ and said they will have to ‘rebuild from the ground up’.

Residents of Union Island, in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, are shocked by the scale of the devastation which they say has left ‘almost the whole island is homeless‘.

Beryl is losing intensity but is forecast to still be near major-hurricane strength when it passes near or over Jamaica this afternoon, near the Cayman Islands on Thursday and into Mexico‘s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Beryl is expected to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge to Jamaica on Wednesday, where officials warned residents in flood-prone areas to prepare for evacuation.

Storm surges of 6-9 feet (1.8 to 2.7 meters) above typical tide levels are likely in Jamaica, as well as heavy rainfall. 

A tropical storm warning is also in place for the entire southern coast of Hispaniola, an island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Satellite photos obtained by DailyMail.com show vast swaths of greenery were completely demolished after the Category 4 storm barreled through the southeast Caribbean islands on Monday.

Entire neighborhoods were also destroyed, with homes seen in ruins on the ground after Beryl tore through the area with sustained winds of 150mph.

At least seven people have been killed and many more are missing as food and water grow scarce on some of the islands.

Katrina Coy, who survived the night as Beryl ravaged her home of Union Island, said the island is in a ‘terrible state’ and there are ‘hardly any buildings left standing’.

‘Literally, almost the whole island is homeless,’ she told the BBC. ‘Houses are flattened, roads are blocked, the electricity poles are down in the streets.’

Sebastien Sailly, a local fisherman and fishing guide, echoed Coy’s claims, saying that ‘everything is lost’ and he has ‘nowhere to live right now’. He also admitted that ‘finding water and food is going to be tough’.

Another local, who operates a hotel with her family, shared how they had to push furniture up against their doors and windows to keep Beryl’s strong winds from blowing them open.

‘The pressure was so intense that you felt it in your ears. We could hear the roof coming apart and smashing into another building. Windows breaking, flooding,’ she recalled. ‘No one knew it would be this bad, everyone is traumatized.’

As Beryl barreled through the Caribbean Sea, rescue crews in southeastern islands fanned out to determine the extent of the damage the hurricane inflicted on Carriacou, an island in Grenada.

Three people were reported killed in Grenada and Carriacou and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said. 

Two other deaths were reported in northern Venezuela, where five people are missing, officials said. About 25,000 people in that area also were affected by heavy rainfall from Beryl.

One fatality in Grenada occurred after a tree fell on a house, Kerryne James, the environment minister, confirmed. She said Carriacou and Petit Martinique sustained the greatest damage, with scores of homes and businesses flattened in Carriacou.

Grenada’s prime minister, Dickon Mitchell, said Tuesday there was no power, roads are impassable and the possible rise of the death toll ‘remains a grim reality.’

‘There is no power and there is almost complete destruction of homes and buildings on the island,’ he said, describing the destruction ‘unimaginable’ and ‘total.’

‘The roads are not passable, and in many instances, they are cut off because of the large quantity of debris strewn all over the streets.’ 

Mitchell added: ‘We have to rebuild from the ground up. There is literally no vegetation left anywhere on the island of Carriacou, the mangroves are totally destroyed.’

Videos posted to social media from the island of Martinique show heavy flooding in the streets as locals tried to clear the debris.

In Barbados, videos also showed waves pounding into the shore, breaching walkways, felling palm trees and flooding roads in the capital. 

Banana trees were also snapped in half, and in some photos cows could be seen laying dead in green pastures, according to the Orlando Sentinel. 

‘The hurricane has come and gone, and it has left in its wake immense destruction,’ said Ralph Gonsalves, the prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

He noted that nearly 90 percent of the homes on Union Island were destroyed, and ‘similar levels of devastation’ were expected on the islands of Myreau and Canouan.

In the Cayman islands, workers are packed hardware stores are being forced to ration sandbags as residents try to prepare for the hurricane.

Luigi Moxam, the owner of waterfront restaurant Cayman Cabana, told The New York Times that he spent Tuesday morning ‘peeling away the restaurant to skeletal form.’ 

‘We get waves and wind, and we make the best of it, but this — this is going to be on a whole other level,’ he said of the storm.

The last strong hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada.

Grenada, known as the ‘spice isle,’ is one of the world’s top exporters of nutmeg. Mitchell noted that the bulk of the spices are grown in the northern part of the island, which was hit hardest by Beryl.

The Grenadian island of Carriacou seemed to fare worse than the larger island, with Kerryne James – the minister of climate resilience, environment and renewable energy – describing how water, food and baby formula have grown scarce.

Three casualties have already been reported in Grenada and Carriacou – including one person who succumbed to their injuries after a tree fell on their home, according to Kerryne James, the minister of climate resilience, environment and renewable energy.

Another casualty were reported in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and two others were in northern Venezuela – where five people were still missing as of Tuesday.

But Mitchell warned on Tuesday: ‘The possibility that there may be more fatalities remains a grim reality as movement is still highly restricted.’ 

The storm is now making its way straight for Jamaica, where a Hurricane Warning remains in effect.

It is expected to start losing some of its intensity, but will still be a major storm when it passes near or over Jamaica early Wednesday morning.

Beryl will bring with it life-threatening winds and storm surge to the area, with local officials warning residents in flood prone areas to prepare for evacuation.

‘I am encouraging all Jamaicans to take the hurricane as a serious threat,’ Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in an address of Monday.

Hundreds of evacuees have since arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with every seat filled on flights from Montego Bay and Kingston, Local 10 News reports.

The influx has even forced some airlines to start adjusting their schedules to accommodate as many Jamaicans as possible. 

Others, meanwhile, have had their vacation plans upended as cruise lines change their routes to avoid the storm.

Carnival Cruise Line said Tuesday it was changing the trajectories of two of its ships.

The Carnival Horizon, which was originally scheduled to make port at Grand Cayman on July 3, has canceled the visit and its scheduled trip to Cozumel, Mexico on July 4 was replaced with a visit to Nassau in the Bahamas on July 5.

The Carnival Liberty was also moving its scheduled stop at Cozumel for July 5 to Tuesday, as the cruise attempted to avoid Beryl’s path.

‘The safety of our guests and crew is paramount, and we are continuing to monitor forecasts and factor in guidance from the National Hurricane Center, US Coast Guard and the port authorities to provide timely updates to our guests as more information becomes available,’ the cruise line said.

Norwegian Cruise Line also altered its routes for two cruises.

The Norwegian Jade and Norwegian Breakaway canceled their trips to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Belize, and Cozumel and Costa Maya in Mexico, CNN reports. 

As of Tuesday night, the eye of the storm was located about 360 miles east southeast of Kingston – with hurricane force winds extending outward up to 40 miles and tropical storm force winds extending outward up to 185 miles from the center.

‘We are most concerned about Jamaica, where we are expecting the core of a major hurricane to pass near or over the island,’ National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said.

‘You want to be in a safe place where you can ride out the storm by nightfall (Tuesday),’ he warned. ‘Be prepared to stay in that location through Wednesday.’ 

Once it hits the area, storm surges could be as high as eight feet above average as heavy rain drenches the island.

‘This is a big hazard in the Caribbean, especially with the mountainous islands,’ Brennan said. ‘This could cause life threatening flash floods and mudslides in some of those areas.’

Hurricane warnings are now in effect for Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Cayman Brac and for Haiti’s entire southern coast.

Tropical storm warnings are also in place for the entire southern coast of Hispaniola. 

From there, Beryl is expected to slam into the Cayman Islands on Thursday and into the Yucatan Peninsula on Friday. 

Meanwhile, a NASA astronaut captured jaw-dropping pictures of the destructive super storm from space. Matthew Dominick shot images of the storm as it made its way across the Caribbean earlier this week.

Dominick wrote on Monday: ‘We flew right over the top of Hurricane Beryl today. Peering down into the eye with the 50 to 500 mm lens gave me both an eerie feeling and a high level of weather nerd excitement.’

NASA say they study hurricanes from space through images like these, as well as observations from satellites.

They explain: ‘This vantage point helps scientists understand how climate change impacts hurricanes and learn how communities can better prepare for tropical cyclones in a warmer world.’