Hurricane Beryl charges toward Jamaica as record-breaking Category 5 storm after leaving Caribbean islands in ruins

Hurricane Beryl, now a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm, has set its sights on Jamaica’s shoreline after leaving at least one person dead and inflicting ruin across entire islands in the Caribbean on Monday.

Beryl is marching away from the Windward Islands after wreaking havoc on Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. By Wednesday afternoon, the storm is forecast to be hammering Jamaica with life-threatening winds and storm surge.

The storm continues to smash records as it kicks off an exceptionally early hurricane season – now becoming the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record and only the second Atlantic storm of such strength to be recorded in July.

Though Beryl’s destructive path has only just begun, several storm-battered communities across the Windward Islands have been left without power, water or cell service as the reality of widespread damage begins to set in.

It took only minutes for Beryl to tear through Grenada on Monday, blasting through buildings and knocking out power and phone service to almost all of the island’s residents, the governor’s office said.

“In half an hour, Carriacou was flattened,” Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said Monday.

A path of “immense destruction, pain (and) suffering” was torn through the neighboring nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where at least one person has been reported dead, said Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves. Parts of the islands, including hospitals, have no electricity and others are without water.

About 90% of the homes on the nation’s Union Island are damaged or destroyed, Gonsalves said. Hundreds more homes and several schools, churches and government buildings in St. Vincent also sustained severe damage.

“Tomorrow we get up with our commitment and conviction to rebuild our lives and our families’ lives,” Gonsalves said Monday night.

Though Beryl is likely to fluctuate in strength in the coming days, it is expected to remain an “extremely dangerous major hurricane” – Category 3 or stronger – through mid-week, the hurricane center said.

The hurricane will continue packing strong winds, torrential rain and hazardous seas extending well beyond its center over much of the Caribbean. Even if Beryl doesn’t make landfall in Jamaica, its outer bands will still bring significant impacts.

The latest on Beryl

•Beryl lashes Hispaniola Tuesday: As Beryl makes its way through the Caribbean on Tuesday, its harsh winds and rain will be felt in Hispaniola. As much as 3 feet of storm surge and between 2 to 6 inches of rain are possible.

•Jamaica braces for severe impacts: A hurricane warning is in effect for Jamaica and residents are urged to finish emergency preparations before the storm arrives on Wednesday. Dangerous storm surge could raise water levels by as much as 3 to 5 feet above normal tide levels across the island. Rainfall of 4 to 8 inches is also expected Wednesday, with localized amounts of up to 12 inches, which may cause flash flooding.

• Extended state of emergency in Grenada: The state of emergency in Grenada has been extended until July 7 due to the severe damage wrought by the storm, said Neila K. Ettienne, spokesperson for the prime minister’s office. About 95% of the island of Grenada has lost power, she said. Telecommunications are also down and some individuals have lost internet service.

•St. Vincent and Grenadines rush to restore power: Local authorities are “working feverishly, urgently and with great focus to get electricity in certain places tonight,” Prime Minister Gonsalves said Monday. Many trees have collapsed on power lines. Even so, government buildings will reopen Tuesday and the prime minister urged business owners to open, if possible.

• Huge blow to Barbados fishing industry: Though Barbados was spared from the brunt of the storm, large storm surge damaged numerous fishing vessels – a massive loss to the nation’s fishing industry. At least 20 vessels have sunken, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley said Monday. Some fishermen at the Bridgetown Fisheries Complex watched helplessly as violent waves slammed boats into each other or pulled them underwater, CNN affiliate CBC reports. “There’s nothing more we can do than stand and watch total destruction – our livelihood gone down the drain,” one resident told CBC.

• Tropical storm warnings: Tropical storm warnings remain in effect from the south coast of the Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque westward to the border with Haiti and across the south coast of Haiti to Anse d’Hainault. Tropical storm-force winds are expected to begin for Haiti and the Dominican Republic Tuesday evening.

Kicking off a far from normal hurricane season

Beryl’s rapidly intensifying strength and early arrival are very rare for the Atlantic hurricane season and are a troubling indicator that this season will be far from normal in a world warming due to human-driven climate change.

The storm has already shattered numerous records. On Sunday it became the earliest major hurricane – defined as one that is Category 3 or higher – in the Atlantic in 58 years and the only one to reach Category 4 status in the month of June.

The hurricane was able to churn to life because the ocean is as warm now as it would normally be at the peak of hurricane season, said Jim Kossin, a hurricane expert and science advisor at 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 the ocean heat fueling Beryl’s unprecedented strengthening “certainly have a human fingerprint on them.”

Forecasters have warned this hurricane season is gearing up to abnormally active. National Weather Service forecasters predict 17 to 25 named storms this season, with as many as 13 of those becoming hurricanes.