Hurricane Beryl

[SOxon]

Does anyone have friends or family living or holidaying in the Caribbean,
at the moment, specifically St.Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, possibly the Bahamas and who is following the path of this early life threatening rare and dangerous hurricane ?

Yes I have a friend who lives there. They have closed up their house and taken refuge with friends in a more secure building. Looks like the electricity (and therefore communication) is going off soon so we won't get any updates from them. Deeply worrying.

Are you there OP?

Just read about it as well. Hoping it doesn't hit too hard. It's certainly worrying to read how rare it is at this time of year and how fast it formed.

SIL and BIL are yacht-dwellers, currently right in the hurricane’s path. They’ve managed to get to a marina on Grenada and found an AirB&B for the next few days, but obviously worried about losing their boat and possessions. We’re keeping our fingers crossed. So many people, particularly host in poorer communities, stand to lose so much.

Beryl is certainly a concern, but I also find myself wondering what's in store later in the season, when things normally gets worse. We live in Ireland and often complain about the weather, but we're awfully lucky!

We're in cayman, thankfully as of this morning out of the cone of uncertainty, and thinking of our Caribbean neighbors in the lesser Antilles as they bear the brunt of Beryl.

The most concerning thing is that Beryl is unprecedented in hurricane history. To have a formed major hurricane in June that is tracking so far west has never happened (since 1957) and it's a cause of concern for the rest of the season, especially given peak isn't until August/september.

The ocean is incredibly hot, currently 29oc/40oc and it didn't drop much over the winter so there is so much fuel for these systems to potentially form.

The only benefit to Beryl is that she's small, relatively compact (50 miles wide with a 10 mile eye wall) and moving fast so impacts will be short and sharp (6-8 hours), rather than a sustained slow moving monster that causes so much damage due to the amount of time it remains in the area.

We have close family in Barbados (they're Bajans) and they are definitely taking precautions. Hurricanes almost always miss Barbados, but this time it does seem possible that it might hit.

sorry for late response - no I am here at home in Oxfordshire - my daughter, grandaughter and sonin law are out there, battened down the hatches, its a few hours since I heard from her - remembering the devastation in New Orleans,now anxious that perhaps this hurricane will be weakened soon

I have family in Grenada.

Absolutely terrified for them, my SIL is normally stoic but a bit panicked as she was a teen during Ivan.

Its scary

@SOxon

I hope that you have some positive news soon x

Thank you all for your responses.
I have not heard from family since 9.00am their time, 2pm here, when my daughter reported heavy lashing rain, hoping no news is good news and likewise, that all your friends and family are safe and unharmed, pets and property too.

Little Carriacou seems to have absorbed the might of the hurricane.

My family are in Grenada @ComtesseDeSpair I hope that boat is still afloat,
intact and your family are safe.
@Strokethefurrywall thank you for your informative post - yes unprecedented

I was reading as much as I could absorb this morning, warm seas, hurricane formation, how islanders adapt to elemental uncertainty and ‘Acts of God’
I know more today than I did yesterday, but not yet how family are faring.
Another sleepless night looms. How lucky we are to live in a temperate climate.

I have text messages from my daughter, saying all is well,
high winds, heavy rain, no worse than a storm over here.
The electricity and water is restored, the garden now full
of previously out of reach mangoes

Glad you've heard from them @SOxon . You must be very relieved.

My friend is on Carriacou :-(

Thank you, yes I was, greatly. My daughter said all is well in their household,
but had heard of the devastation on Carriacou. I hope your friend is safe.
I then watched a vid on YT, Jonathan Petramala who is on Carriacou,
speaking to residents, showing some of the flattened buildings, then another
video with hurriedly put together drone footage over Carriacou, WXChasing
is the channel.
It’s a dull cloudy cool day here in South Oxfordshire, but as @UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername said, how lucky we are

I'm in Oxfordshire too OP!! I'm so gllad all is well, my daughter is due to fly to Barbados tomorrow.....keeping everything crossed for everyone, such a worry

I read somewhere that this is the earliest in the year there has been a hurricane of this severity.

BBC explainer says that there hasn't been an increase in the number of hurricanes, but that the severity is increasing
How is climate change affecting hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones? - BBC News

I really feel for the people in Beryl's path

According to Ryan Hall, there's going to be another, bigger one, shortly after Beryl :(

I’m in Riviera Maya right now. My resort was bang in the centre of the hurricane overnight. Woken about 0430 by horrific loud screeching winds, was a Cat 3 at that point. Sat in the eye for about 30 mins then all hell let loose as we were hit by the ‘dirty’ side. Caught up on some sleep now and about to look at our pack up to see what the hotel has given us.

scary as fuck.