Damage Reports By Caribbean Islands From Hurricane Beryl: Devastation, Havoc
Hurricane Beryl caused absolute devastation in the Caribbean islands over the week as it struck Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbados after developing into a Category 5 hurricane.
Knewz.com has learned that the hurricane was the earliest storm in the Atlantic to intensify into Category 5.
Locals in Jamaica saw the hurricane intensify rapidly on July 3, with over three Caribbean islands reporting complete or severe destruction of over 90% of residences over the week.
As of now, three people have been reported dead in Grenada, three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela, and two in Jamaica.
Treasure Beach, a small fishing and agricultural community on the coast of southern Jamaica, is still trying to cope with the aftermath of the ravaging hurricane, with locals coming together to clean up the streets and help each other.
Rebecca Wiersma, an American tour and villa operator who has lived in the community since 1993, told the news outlet Miami Herald that she had never seen a calamity this bad hit the area.
"Everything is devastated. It’s absolutely devastated... I’ve lived here for 31 years and never seen it so bad," she told the outlet. "We are just all feeling very grateful that nobody was hurt or killed. That’s the first thing we all start with. Saying ‘Praise God for life.’"
Residents of the Jamaican community reported that the roofs of nearly one-third of the community's homes had been destroyed, according to a preliminary assessment.
The roof of the Norman Manley International Airport in Jamaica was also partially ripped off by Category 4 winds, with Miami Herald reporting that the southern coast of the island saw the worst of damages.
Adrian Brown, a 27-year-old bartender who has been a resident of Treasure Beach for several years now, reported that the streets were strewn with rippled pieces of zinc metal, commonly used for roofing in the area.
"There’s zinc everywhere from people’s houses... Words don’t even do justice," he told Miami Herald, adding that the storm went "from zero to a hundred real quick."
As of now, around 55% of Jamaica is still without electricity and most of the island still does not have access to running water. However, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness has visited the worst-affected areas of the island and promised residents swift relief from the aftermath of the calamity.
"I know some of you are experiencing discomfort and displacement, and I want to assure you that the government will move as quickly as we can to get you the help you need," Holness said in a statement via The Associated Press.
A man from Union Island, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, reported that strong winds flew away two of his 2,000-gallon rubber tanks that he had filled in preparation for the hurricane to secure access to running water.
"I strapped them down securely on six sides; and I watched the wind lift those tanks and take them away — filled with water... I’m a sailor and I never believed wind could do what I saw it do. If anyone (had) ever told me wind could do that, I would have told them they lie!" he told The Associated Press.
In the island of Carriacou and the surrounding Windward Islands, strong gusts of wind reached a velocity of 150 mph and higher, with the National Hurricane Center warning that the winds could be fiercer on hilltops and mountains, per USA Today.
Elizabeth Riley, Executive Director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, said in a July 3 update, that the damages in the Grenadine Islands are "quite significant" and that residents have been left exposed and vulnerable.
"There's really nothing that can prepare you to see this level of destruction... 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," said Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell in a statement via USA Today.
YouTube documentarian Jonathan Petramala did an independent coverage of the devastation in Grenada and spoke to some of the affected locals.
His video captured destroyed homes in all directions, and the landscape was dotted with debris left in the wake of the nightmarish Hurricane Beryl. He asked one of the residents how they were, to which they replied, "Alive."
"Nothing [can] prepare you for this... This is saddening. I won’t wish this on my worst enemy," one of the locals told Petramala. "Somebody else is going to experience this tomorrow later today… tomorrow."
One of the locals showed the documentarian pictures of his home and place of business before the hurricane hit and he lost everything. “All of this is gone,” he said.
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