Hurricane Beryl live updates: Storm batters Jamaica before charting path to Cayman Islands

At least one person more has died as Beryl devastates the southeastern Caribbean after one death was confirmed in Jamaica.

A woman has been killed after a tree fell on her house in the western parish of Hanover, Richard Thompson, the head of the country’s disaster agency, told The New York Times.

A rescue team was also searching for a 20-year-old man who had been swept away in a gully after he was trying to retrieve a ball he was playing with in Kingston, the newspaper reports.

At least three people died in Venezuela, three died in Grenada and one person died in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

While Hurricane Beryl has dropped down to a Category 3, the National Hurricane Centre warns that it is still forecast to be ‘near major hurricane intensity’ on Thursday as it passes by the Cayman Islands.

As of 5am EDT (10am GMT), Beryl was located just 55 miles (90km) south-southeast of Grand Cayman. Weather is deteriorating in the Cayman Islands with strong winds, dangerous storm surge and damaging waves expected there later Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center states in its most recent update.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac and the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico from Puerto Costa Maya to Cancun, including Cozumel.

Beryl’s winds have decreased, but are still at a strong 120mph (195 km/h).

Very soon, the Cayman Islands are expected to experience hurricane wind conditions, as well as in the Yucatan Peninsula late today or early Friday.

Storm surges could raise water levels along the immediate coast of the Cayman Islands as much as two to four feet above normal, bringing with it large and destructive waves.

Beryl is also bringing rainfall totals of four to six inches over the Cayman Islands on Thursday, the same expected for the Yucatan Peninsula later today into Friday. The Yucatan Peninsula could see localized amounts of 10 inches as well.

Scattered instances of flash flooding is expected over the region.

After Hurricane Beryl devastated several Caribbean islands this week and most recently battered Jamaica with Category 4-force winds, the National Hurricane Center said the extreme conditions should be subsiding around the island.

Storm surge should gradually be dwindling in Jamaica on Thursday morning; however, Beryl is still expected to produce rainfall totals of four to eight inches with localized amounts of 12 inches across this morning in the nation.

The rain could still cause life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides.

A Hurricane Warning has been discontinued in Jamaica as Beryl begins to move away from the island, the country’s Meteorological Service said on Wednesday night.

However, a flash flood watch was still in effect until 5am on Tuesday EST.

“With Jamaica now being outside of the range of hurricane force winds from Hurricane Beryl, and with storm surge no longer posing a threat to coastal areas of the island, the Hurricane Warning is being discontinued with immediate effect,” the Meteorological Service wrote in their bulletin.

Along with the continuing threats of rainfall and flash flooding in Jamaica in the aftermath of the hurricane, strong, gusty winds could still exist, and rising water levels will continue to affect southwestern coastal areas.

All small craft operators are urged to remain in port until sea conditions return to normal, the Meteorological Service said.

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that the curfew imposed in the island nation will be extended until Thursday morning amid continuing adverse weather conditions.

The curfew went into effect at 11.00pm Wednesday (4am GMT Thursday) and will stay through the night until 6am (11am GMT) on Thursday.

Hurricane Beryl has weakened to a Category 3 storm, however, it is still sustaining strong winds of 125mph (205 km/h), the National Hurricane Center has said in its most recent update.

Strong winds, dangerous storm surge and damaging waves are expected across the Cayman Islands overnight.

As of 2am EDT, the center of Hurricane Beryl was located by Grand Cayman and Air Force Hurricane Hunter radar imagery near latitude 18.3 North, longitude 80.1 West – around 110 miles (175km) southeast of Grand Cayman.

The core of Beryl will sweep just south of the Cayman Islands overnight and over the Yucatan Peninsula early Friday.

The hurricane is then expected to emerge over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico Friday night and turn northwestward.

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

In Grenada, prime minister Dickon Mitchell said they’ll have to “We “rebuild from the ground up” after visiting the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, which sustained the maximum damage from Beryl.

“There’s no power and there’s almost complete destruction of homes and buildings on the island. 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.”

Beryl is the earliest ever category 5 storm ever recorded. It occurred as ocean heat in the Atlantic was already higher due to global heating, nearing levels usually seen in peak season in September.

This has raised alarm over what the rest of the Atlantic hurricane season could be like.

“It’s really scary stuff,” Steve Maximay, a climate and agriculture expert in Grenada, told The Independent.

”When you talk about category four and five, there are very few systems or protocols that can prepare you for that. You can have resilient buildings but category five winds can move concrete structures.”

The head of Mexico’s civil defence agency said that Hurricane Beryl is expected to make a rare double strike on Mexico.

Late on Wednesday night, the storm’s centre was about 500 miles (800 kilometres) east-southeast of Tulum, Mexico.

It had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (215 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 21 mph (32 kph). Hurricane strength winds extended 45 miles from the centre.

Laura Velazquez said the hurricane is expected to make landfall along a relatively unpopulated stretch of the Caribbean coast between Tulum and the inland town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto.

Because the coast there is largely made up of lagoons and mangroves, there are few resorts or hotels in the area south of Tulum.

On Wednesday, Mexican government officials moved sea turtle eggs off Cancun beaches in an attempt to protect them from storm surge.

The hurricane is expected to weaken to a tropical storm as it crosses the Yucatan peninsula and re-emerge over the weekend at storm strength into the Gulf of Mexico.

Ms Velazquez said that Beryl is then expected to hit Mexican territory a second time in the Gulf coast states of Veracruz or Tamaulipas, near the Texas border.

Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness announced that the curfew imposed in the island nation will be extended until Thursday morning amid continuing adverse weather conditions.

The storm caused flooding, mudslides and knocked off trees and electricity poles, cutting connectivity to several towns.

More than 400,000 people were without power, according to the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper, citing a public service company.

“After reviewing the current situation, it was assessed that the continuing weather conditions, in addition to consideration for public safety, public order, and the protection of property, warrant the declaration of a new curfew,” Mr Holness wrote on X.

The curfew went into effect at 11.00pm Wednesday (4am GMT Thursday) and will stay through the night until 6am (11am GMT) on Thursday.

“This storm will pass, and we will recover,” Mr Holness wrote.