A storm blown into life on Jamaica: Desrine Campbell and Beryl, a young man’s worst damage and the lack of electricity

Some 1,435 people remain in shelters in Jamaica, including Desrine Campbell, who shrieked “My house is almost flooded!” in Old Harbour Bay.

The storm sent trees into the roads and left 60 percent of the island without electricity. Over a thousand residents remained in shelters as of Thursday.

A young man was swept into a storm water drain as he tried to recover a ball after his house collapsed on him, according to the AP.

Beryl’s worst damage appeared to be behind it. It was brushed by Jamaica’s southern coast on Wednesday afternoon and telephone poles and trees blocked the roads in Kingston on Thursday.

Velázquez said temporary storm shelters were in place at schools and hotels but efforts to evacuate a few highly exposed villages — like Punta Allen, which sits on a narrow spit of land south of Tulum — and Mahahual, further south — had been only partially successful.

As Beryl moves further inland, it is expected to weaken rapidly, but the NHC said slow re-intensification is expected once it moves back over the Gulf of Mexico.

A traveller from Dallas, Texas, had a sandwich on the beach and figured they would get the last of the sun in today. It is going to be hunkering down and stay indoors until it passes.

A Category 3 Hurricane that Came to a Sea and Its Center Near Grand Cayman Island (Mexico), Mexico

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 have stopped the gas and electricity. The emergency floor has two maintenance workers who will be locking it down. “We have them staying in the room farthest from the beach and windows.”

Francisco Bencomo, General manager of Hotel Umi in Tulum said that they had all left. “With these conditions, we’ll be completely locked down,” he said, adding there were no plans to have guests return before July 10th.

Most of the businesses in Playa del Carmen were closed Thursday, and people were boarding up windows as they walked their dogs. In Tulum, authorities shut things down and evacuated beachside hotels.

The Mexican government called for people to stay in their homes or at storm shelters in the event of a storm. Sea turtle eggs were being evacuated from its beaches.

Four wheelers pulled up on the white sand beaches in Tulum as the wind got stronger, telling people to leave. Tourists snapped photos of the swell, but military personnel asked them to leave as they neared an expected landfall on Friday.

The storm’s center was about 135 miles (220 kilometers) east-southeast of Tulum, Mexico, and was moving west-northwest at 16 mph (about 26 kph), the hurricane center said.

When the storm came south of Grand Cayman Island it knocked out power to thousands of customers. It strengthened back into a Category 3 storm later that day as it churned toward Mexico, but weakened before making landfall.

On the impact of Beryl’s storm on Tulum, Cayman Islands, the largest hurricane state in the U.S. and many other towns

“No hesitating. Material things can be recovered. The most important thing is life,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

The president issued a statement regarding the possibility of a direct hit on the small town of Tulum which remains popular among tourists and residents.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Beryl, which was the earliest Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, now had winds of 115 mph (185 kph ) after weakening earlier Thursday.

Carlton said that he lost everything this time. Golding’s house was damaged in a storm for the second time and this time it was totally destroyed.

In the south-central parish of Clarendon, residents attempted to mend damaged roofs and clear downed trees. The roads are partially blocked from downed electricity and telecommunication poles.

The premier of the Cayman Islands, Juliana O’Connor, thanked residents and visitors Thursday for contributing to the “collective calm” ahead of Beryl by following storm protocols.

Michelle Forbes, the St. Vincent and Grenadines director of the National Emergency Management Organization, said that about 95% of homes in Mayreau and Union Island have been damaged by Hurricane Beryl.

That brought Beryl’s total confirmed fatalities to at least nine: Three people were reported killed in Grenada and Carriacou, one in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and three in northern Venezuela, where at least four people remain missing after floods triggered by heavy rain.

The destruction of Union Island, Dominican Republic, as declared by the United States National Hurricane Center, with its sights set on Texas next: Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell says the destruction is Armageddon-like

The US National Hurricane Center said on Thursday that Tropical Storm Aletta had formed off the coast of Mexico. Aletta, which was located about 190 miles (310 kilometers) from Manzanillo and had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph), was forecast to head away from land and dissipate by the weekend.

$4 million in emergency relief funds is available to countries such as Grenada and Jamaica. Humanitarian aid groups are coming to help people in the Caribbean who have been damaged by hurricanes.

The Prime Minister said in the video that Union was a field of destruction. “It’s only the odd building that is not severely damaged or destroyed.”

In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Union Island — some 3 miles long and 1 mile wide, and home to about 3,000 residents — saw about 98% of its buildings damaged or destroyed, including its hospital and airport control tower.

“There is literally no vegetation left anywhere on the island of Carriacou; the mangroves are totally destroyed, the boats and the marinas significantly damaged,” he said, according to USA Today. “There is almost complete destruction of the electrical grid system in Carriacou. The entire communication system has been destroyed.

Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell described the destruction of buildings and agriculture on Carriacou and Petite Martinique as “almost Armageddon-like” in a news conference on Tuesday.

Source: Hurricane Beryl makes landfall in Mexico, with its sights set on Texas next

The Mexican Tropical Category 4 Sea-Wind Storm that Blasted the Gulf of Barbados, Jamaica, and St. Vincent, Grenadines and Grenada

It battered the coast of Barbados, destroying or damaging some 200 fishing vessels, before continuing on to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada as a Category 4 storm on its way to Jamaica and Mexico.

“As Texans and visitors around the south coastal areas begin to celebrate our nation’s Independence Day, I urge them to make an emergency plan, review hurricane evacuation routes, and continue to monitor weather conditions to ensure the safety of themselves and their loved ones,” Abbott said Thursday.

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

The center of the storm isn’t as far away as reported by Texas public radio, which is why officials are starting to take precautions.

“It’s going to take days, even weeks, possibly, to be able to get parts of this country back on its feet,” he said. Montego Bay and Kingston are likely to get power first. It will take a long time in the rural communities.

Journalist Nick Davis told NPR’s All Things Considered from Kingston on Thursday that authorities’ immediate concern is getting power to essential services, like water and telecommunications.

Tropical Cyclosmic Event in Tulum, a Mexican Island Known for Its Largest Stripes, as Declared by the National Hurricane Center

Cancun, home to beaches and Mayan ruins, is a popular vacation destination. Some 3,000 tourists were evacuated from Isla Mujeres back to the mainland on Thursday, according to Reuters, which also reports that at least 100 flights out of Cancun’s international airport were canceled that day.

The NHC is forecasting dangerous hurricane-force winds, a storm surge of four to six feet and damaging waves as the storm moves inland across the northern Yucatan Peninsula during the day. It says the region could get up to 10 inches of rain.

Texas officials warned the state’s entire coastline to prepare for flooding, heavy rain and wind as they wait for a more defined path of the storm. The center issued a watch for the Texas coast from the mouth of the Rio Grande north to San Luis Pass less than 80 miles south of Houston.

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.

Mexican authorities had moved some people out of low-lying areas around the peninsula before the storm hit, but tens of thousands of people were still stuck in low-lying areas. 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.

Laura Velzquez, the national coordinating of Mexican Civil Protection, said that despite no dead or wounded, half of Tulum still hasn’t had electricity.

Jamaica and other islands devastated by the storm were still reeling, even after many in the peninsula took a deep breath. 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.