Attachments
CRISIS IMPACT OVERVIEW
Tropical Cyclone Beryl formed on 28 June 2024 and intensified into a powerful Category 4 hurricane on 30 June, bringing life-threatening winds and storm surges to several countries in the southwestern Caribbean (ECHO 30/06/2024; Spectrum News 04/07/2024). On 1 July, Hurricane Beryl made landfall in southern Windward Island, becoming the earliest Category 5 Atlantic Basin hurricane on record, with winds topping at 165mph (WMO 02/07/2024).
Hurricane Beryl has affected Barbados, the Cayman Islands, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), and Trinidad and Tobago. By 4 July, its impact had killed ten people across the Caribbean (three each in Grenada, SVG, and Venezuela, as well as one in Jamaica) and led to five people missing (France 24 04/07/2024; ECHO 04/07/2024).
Some of the most affected islands are Carriacou and Petite Martinique in Grenada, with 95% of houses damaged. In SVG, 90% of infrastructure is damaged, including houses, roads, and the airport terminal on Union Island (IFRC 04/07/2024). There is no complete information on the damage in Jamaica because 60% of the population has no electricity (BBC 04/07/2024; The Gleaner 03/07/2024 a). When the hurricane passed through the Cayman Islands on 4 July, it caused some destruction. However, clear information on the severity and extent of the destruction is still unavailable (Reuters 04/07/2024; NBC News 05/07/2024).
Beryl is the 2024 Atlantic season’s first hurricane and the earliest storm on record to reach the strongest possible ranking of Category 5, before weakening to Category 4 as it made landfall on small islands in the eastern Caribbean (Reuters 03/07/2024). Category 3 and above hurricanes are characterised by wind speeds of at least 111mph (178kph) (BBC 23/05/2024). These types of hurricanes often strengthen quickly into stronger categories. Beryl, for example, intensified from a Category 4 to a Category 5 in just one day. Rapidly intensifying hurricanes pose a greater threat because they give people in the projected impact areas limited time to prepare and evacuate (NYT 02/07/2024).
The most vulnerable groups to the impact of the hurricane are the elderly, children, people with disabilities, and those with chronic illnesses (OCHA 02/07/2024 a).