Hurricane Beryl makes landfall as a life-threatening Category 4 storm

CNN
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Hurricane Beryl is roaring through the Windward Islands as an extremely dangerous Category 4, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and life-threatening storm surge after making landfall on Monday.

It is the strongest known hurricane to have passed through the region, according to records from NOAA dating back to 1851.

Beryl made landfall shortly after 11:00 a.m. EDT on the Grenadines island of Carriacou in the Caribbean Sea with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph. The storm caused power outages, flooded roads and brought stormwater flooding to parts of the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados and Tobago on Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Beryls' arrival marks an unusually early start to the Atlantic hurricane season. Sunday became the earliest Category 4 on record in the Atlantic Ocean and the only Category 4 in the month of June. The bathtub-warm ocean waters that facilitated Beryls' alarming strengthening are a clear indication that this hurricane season will be far from normal in a warming world due to fossil fuel pollution.

Beryl is breaking records for June because the ocean is as warm now as it would normally be at the height of hurricane season, said Jim Kossin, a hurricane expert and science adviser to the nonprofit First Street Foundation.

Hurricanes don't know what month it is, they only know what their ambient environment is, Kossin told CNN. Beryl is breaking records for the month of June because Beryl thinks it's September.

Kossin added that the ocean heat driving the unprecedented hardening of the Beryls certainly has a human fingerprint on them.

The storm briefly weakened to Category 3 status early Monday as it went through an eyewall replacement cycle, a process in which stronger hurricanes can shed an eyewall, the ring of more intense winds surrounding the calm eye. of hurricanes while building a bigger one. The hurricane weakens during this process, but eventually emerges as a more powerful storm.

Islanders were scrambling to complete final emergency preparations Sunday night, even as tropical storm force winds approached. Local officials are warning of potentially catastrophic impacts, including damage to homes, widespread power outages and threats to the safety of residents.

I want everyone in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to take this matter very seriously, said Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves. There are some people who hope for the best and we should all do that, but we should all prepare for the worst.

Beryl is a dangerous hurricane:The storm is located near the island of Carriacou, which is part of Grenada, has sustained winds of 150 mph and is moving west-northwest at 20 mph. Beryls storm force winds extend 40 miles from the center while tropical storm force winds extend about 125 miles.

Life-threatening storms and floods:National Hurricane Center warned that life-threatening storm will raise water levels up to 6 to 9 feet above normal tide levels when Beryl made landfall. High waves can also create life-threatening currents and threaten small boats and fishermen even after they make landfall. Flash flooding is also a concern in parts of the Windward Islands and Barbados, where 3 to 6 inches of rain is expected through Monday, and up to 10 inches is possible in some places, particularly in the Grenadines and Grenada. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley warned citizens to be extremely vigilant.

Hurricane Warnings:Barbados, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Tobado. A hurricane watch is in effect for Jamaica. Tropical storm warnings are in effect for Martinique, Trinidad and Saint Lucia. Tropical storm watches are in effect for the southern coast of the Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque west to the border with Haiti and the southern coast of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Anse-dHainault.

Hundreds evacuated: More than 400 people took shelter in storm shelters across Barbados Sunday night, the nation's shelter chief, Ramona Archer-Bradshaw, told CNN, CBC News. I'm glad people are using shelters, if they're not comfortable in their homes, it's good to go to shelters, she said.

State of Emergency in Grenada: The state of emergency was declared by the Governor General of Grenada, Cecile La Grenade, which will remain in effect from Sunday night until Tuesday morning. All businesses will be closed, except for police forces, hospitals, prisons, waste disposal and ports.

Closed airports: Airports in Barbados, Grenada and Saint Lucia were closed Sunday night as Beryl approached. Grenada's Maurice Bishop International Airport is expected to reopen Tuesday morning, a spokesman said. Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados and St. Lucias Hewanorra International and George Charles have also ceased operations.

Cricket World Cup fans stuck:Barbados is still hosting cricket fans from around the world who traveled to the island for the T20 World Cup, some of whom will not be able to evacuate before Beryl arrives. Our visitors are here with us, said Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley. Some of them won't leave until Monday and Tuesday, and some of them have never been through a storm or storm before. She asked residents to offer support to visitors if possible.

This season is already off to a busy start as a second storm, Tropical Storm Chris, made landfall near Tuxpan, Mexico, on the Gulf Coast early Monday.

Beryl is making for a worrisome start to a hurricane season that forecasters have warned will be hyperactive, and the Beryls' record-breaking activity could be a sign of things to come.

Beryl is the earliest major hurricane designated as Category 3 or higher in the Atlantic in 58 years. The rapid intensification of storms is highly atypical early in the hurricane season, according to National Hurricane Center Director Mike Brennan. It is rare for tropical systems to form east of the central Atlantic of the Lesser Antilles in June, especially strong ones, as only a small fraction of tropical systems have done so.according to NOAA data.

The storm isn't just early for this season. It is now the third earliest Atlantic Ocean hurricane. The earliest was Hurricane Alma on June 8, 1966, followed by Hurricane Audrey, which attained major hurricane status on June 27, 1957.

Beryl also set the record for the most easterly hurricane formed in the Tropical Atlantic in June, beating a previous record set in 1933.

The central and eastern Atlantic traditionally become more active in August, in part because ocean temperatures have had time to warm and fuel developing systems.

However, this year, the Atlantic basin has seen above-normal water temperatures and a lack of wind shear due to the transition from the El Nio season to the La Nia season, both of which are fuel for tropical development.

Beryl has found an environment with ocean waters that are too warm for this time of year, Brennan said.

According toresearch byPhil Klotzbach, a hurricane expert and research scientist at Colorado State University. Normally, ocean temperatures are not warm enough in June and July to help tropical systems thrive.

National Weather Serviceforecasters predict17 to 25 named storms this season, with 13 becoming hurricanes.

That's well above average, Brennan noted.

CNN's Monica Garrett, Gene Norman, Michael Rios, Marlon Sorto, Sandi Sidhu, Melissa Alonso, Isaac Yee, Eric Zerkel, Mary Gilbert, Rachel Ramirez and Brandon Miller contributed to this report.