Survival story as Hurricane Beryl razes smallest inhabited island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines

AP |
Jul 06, 2024 


Survival story as Hurricane Beryl razes smallest inhabited island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines


MAYREAU, St. Vincent and the Grenadines — Mayreu is one of the smallest inhabited islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It's so small that it's barely visible — a dot on the map of the Caribbean. Hurricane Beryl nearly erased it from the map.

Survival story as Hurricane Beryl razes smallest inhabited island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Beryl pummeled everything along its path, ripping up roofs of schools, crumbling homes and stripping trees of almost every leaf on the 0.46 square miles of this island of about 360 people.

“Everything was flying all over the place," Mayreau resident James Alexander said recalling the storm, “I saw a tank full of water lifted up and swirl in the air."

Beryl made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane Monday on the Caribbean island of Carriacou in Barbados and close to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, leaving a swath of destruction as it kept moving west and strengthening later into a Category 5.

The storm is the earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic. On Friday, it moved over Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula after battering the resort of Tulum and reemerged in the Gulf of Mexico, prompting Texas officials to urge coastal residents to prepare as the storm headed their way. Beryl has caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean islands.

Other islands in the Grenadines archipelago, like Canouan, also suffered extensive damage. But tiny Mayreau has been mostly ignored in its pleas for help.

Most lost it all: 98% of the island’s structures were severely damaged, according to the latest report from the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Agency.

When the storm hit, some of the people of Mayreau sought refuge in The Immaculate Conception Church. But the sturdy building built more than 100 years ago with local stone did not have a chance against the wrath of the Category 4 hurricane.

People sheltered in the church barely made it out. Almost miraculously, they escaped unharmed but for a few minor injuries. With only one small clinic, which has also been damaged, and one nurse, that the injuries were minor was the only good news for the people of Mayreau.

The storm ripped every roof off every home on the island. Many were left as piles of dust and rubble.

“This church suffered an awful fate as a result of the passage of Hurricane Beryl and it's an indication of what has happened throughout this island,” Luke Browne, St. Vincent and the Grenadines' former minister of health, said as he stood in front of the rubble of The Immaculate Conception Church.

Browne said he had been visiting Mayreau since he was a child and had seen the congregation “grow and thrive.” He made a plea for help to rebuild his native island.

Mayreau residents are now stranded without electricity or shelter — not even a roof — to protect them from the sun and rain.


Islanders are badly in need of everything, from food and water to tents and baby formula for its 14 youngest inhabitants.

Mayreau is far from the mainland, accessible only by a four-hour boat trip from St. Vincent.

Although some aid is expected to trickle in from nearby islands, the need is enormous, and the aid is only guaranteed for a short-term. There are no vehicles on Mayreau, so residents form human chains, passing vital bottles of water hand-to-hand to the improvised shelter.

The small population depends on tourism and fishing, both of which were disrupted by the storm.

“I’m just happy,” Alexander said, "to be alive.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the ’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The is solely responsible for this content.

 

After hitting Yucatan Peninsula, Beryl churns in Gulf of Mexico as Texas braces for potential hit

Residents of Union Island, one of the small islands that make up St. Vincent and the Grenadines, were facing a disastrous scenario after Hurricane Beryl devastated the island’s buildings and infrastructure. The storm, which affected over 2,000 people, has left homes completely destroyed, schools with torn-off roofs, and trees stripped of leaves. 

BY MARTÍN SILVA AND JIM VERTUNO
July 5, 2024


TULUM, Mexico (AP) — After battering Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, Beryl moved back into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico where it was expected to regain hurricane strength Saturday before taking aim at the Texas coast, where officials urged residents to brace for a potential hit.

The earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, Beryl caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean islands earlier in the week. It then battered Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane, toppling trees but causing no injuries or deaths before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved across the peninsula.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted late Friday that Beryl would intensify on Saturday before making landfall, prompting expanded hurricane and storm surge watches.

“There is an increasing risk of damaging hurricane-force winds and life-threatening storm surge in portions of northeastern Mexico and the lower and middle Texas coast late Sunday and Monday,” the center warned.

Texas officials warned the state’s entire coastline to brace for possible flooding, heavy rain and wind as they wait for a more defined path of the storm. On Friday, the hurricane center issued hurricane and storm surge watches for the Texas coast from the mouth of the Rio Grande north to San Luis Pass, less than 80 miles (128.75 kilometers) south of Houston.


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Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is traveling in Taiwan, issued a pre-emptive disaster declaration for 40 counties.

“Everyone along the (Texas) coast should be paying attention this storm,” Patrick said. “We hope and we pray for nothing more than a rain event.”

Some Texas coastal cities called for voluntary evacuations in low-lying areas prone to flooding, banned beach camping and urged tourists traveling on the July 4 holiday weekend to move recreational vehicles from coastal parks. In Corpus Christi, city officials announced it had distributed 10,000 sandbags in less than two hours Friday, exhausting its supply.


Beryl already spread destruction in Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbados this week. Three people have been reported dead in Grenada, three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica, officials said.

Mexican authorities had moved some tourists and residents out of low-lying areas around the Yucatan Peninsula before landfall, but tens of thousands remained to tough out the strong winds and storm surge. Much of the area around Tulum is just a few yards (meters) above sea level.

The city was plunged into darkness when the storm knocked out power as it came ashore. Screeching winds set off car alarms across the town. Wind and rain continued to whip the seaside city and surrounding areas Friday morning. Army brigades roved the streets of the tourist city, clearing fallen trees and power lines.

After seeing Beryl tear through the Caribbean, 37-year-old Lucía Nagera Balcaza was among those who stocked up on food and hid away in their homes.
“Thank god, we woke up this morning and everything was all right,” she said. “The streets are a disaster, but we’re out here cleaning up.”

Although no dead or wounded have been reported, nearly half of Tulum continued to be without electricity, said Laura Velázquez, national coordinator of Mexican Civil Protection.

While many in the Yucatan Peninsula took a deep breath, Jamaica and other islands ravaged by the hurricane were still reeling. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness promised swift relief for residents after visiting one of the worst-affected areas of the island, the southern parish of St Elizabeth on Thursday.

Before the storm hit Mexico, officials had set up shelters in schools and hotels. When the wind began gusting over Tulum’s beaches Thursday, officials on four-wheelers with megaphones rolled along the sand telling people to leave and authorities evacuated beachside hotels. Sea turtle eggs were even moved off beaches threatened by storm surge.

Tourists also took precautions. Lara Marsters, 54, a therapist visiting Tulum from Boise, Idaho, said she had filled up empty water bottles from the tap.

“We’re going to hunker down and stay safe,” she said.
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Vertuno reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press writers John Myers Jr. and Renloy Trail in Kingston, Jamaica; Mark Stevenson and Megan Janetsky in Mexico City; Coral Murphy Marcos in San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Lucanus Ollivierre on Union Island, St. Vincent and Grenadines also contributed to this report.

Smashing records
Hurricane Beryl, seen here making landfall in Barbados, is the first dangerous hurricane of the season. Fueled by record warm waters, it strengthened into a top-level Category 5 storm late on Monday — the earliest Category 5 storm in the Atlantic on record, according to the National Hurricane Center in the US and the World Meteorological Organization. It has since weakened to a Category 4.Image: CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP/Getty Images

'Potentially catastrophic'
Barbados appeared to have been spared the worst of the storm but was still hit with high winds and pelting rain. The storm has developed into a "potentially catastrophic" hurricane with wind speeds of up to 240 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour), the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday evening.Image: CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP/Getty Images

State of emergency
In just over 24 hours, Beryl developed from a tropical storm on Sunday into a Category 5 hurricane. Authorities have declared a state of emergency in Tobago, the smaller of the two islands that make up Trinidad and Tobago (seen above), with schools ordered closed and flights canceled.Image: Andrea De Silva/REUTERS

Island of Carriacou 'flattened'
Already as a Category 4 hurricane, Beryl lay waste to the port of Bridgetown on Barbados. Grenada's Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said the island of Carriacou was "flattened" in half an hour, with water, food and baby formula now in short supply. An emergency team was expected to arrive in Carriacou on Tuesday morning.Image: Ricardo Mazalan/AP Photo/picture alliance

Flooding in Venezuela
In Venezuela's northern state of Sucre, Beryl brought heavy rain and flooding. Venezuela's vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, was injured after a gust of wind knocked down tree during her visit to the disaster area. "She was hit hard, but she is conscious," President Nicolas Maduro said in a speech to supporters.Image: VICTOR GONZALEZ/AFP/Getty Image

Devastating force
Union Island, one of the southernmost islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, was hit especially hard. Around 90% of the island's homes were heavily damaged or destroyed, said Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves on Tuesday, who has promised to rebuild. The full extent of the storm damage is still unknown.Image: The Agency For Public Information St. Vincent and the Grenadines/Reuters

Escaping with their lives
These residents of Union Island were able to find refuge in Kingstown, on the northern island of St. Vincent. But the situation remains tense: throughout the southeast Caribbean, streets are littered with trees and other debris. Electricity was disrupted everywhere on Tuesday, and communication between the islands remains difficult.Image: Lucanus Ollivierre/AP Photo/picture alliance

Deadly path
As the cleanup begins on Barbados, the storm continues to move. Beryl is expected to remain an extremely dangerous hurricane as it continues its path across the Caribbean. According to forecasts, it will pass just south of Jamaica and reach Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula by Thursday, where it could hit the popular beach resorts of Cancun and Playa del Carmen.Image: RANDY BROOKS/AFP/Getty Images
Getting ready in Jamaica
Ahead of the storm in Kingston, Jamaica, these shoppers rushed to stock up on essential supplies. "I urge all Jamaicans to stock up on food, batteries, candles, and water," said Prime Minister Andrew Holness on X. The hurricane is expected to hit the island on Wednesday, he added, declaring a state of emergency and 12-hour curfew from 6 a.m. local time.Image: Gilbert Bellamy/REUTERS

Empty shelves
In Cancun, Mexico, meanwhile, some stores were already almost completely cleared out of non-perishable food.Image: Paola Chiomante/Reuters

Historic hurricane season?
Weather experts are already talking about a historic hurricane season. Beryl has already broken several records, including marking the farthest east that a hurricane has formed in the Atlantic in June, said hurricane researcher Philip Klotzbach of Colorado State University.Image: Lucanus Ollivierre/AP Photo/picture alliance

More storms expected
In addition to the high water temperatures in the Atlantic, the hurricane season could be fueled by the expected onset of the climate phenomenon La Nina, a phase of cooler water in the Pacific. Climate change also plays a role: global warming increases the likelihood of more destructive storms.Image: Ricardo Mazalan/AP Photo/picture alliance