Hurricane Beryl devastates Caribbean island as strongest hurricane ever for this time of year continues to rage toward Mexico

The hurricane, listed as “extremely dangerous,” made landfall around 11:10 a.m. local time. The hurricane center warned that the winds were potentially deadly and could cause “catastrophic damage.” “This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation. Take action now to protect your life!” it said in a post Monday.

Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell also urged residents to take shelter and observe the 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew, which closed all schools, businesses and the airport.

Mitchell said at a press conference on Monday that there were “widespread reports of destruction” in Carriacou and Petite Martinique. “In the space of half an hour, Carriacou was flattened.”

Roofs were blown off houses and power lines came down. The archipelago was largely left without electricity. According to the prime minister’s spokesman, 95 percent of the island of Grenada was without power.

According to Mitchell, there have been no reports of casualties so far, but that could still change.

Most powerful hurricane ever

Hurricane Beryl strengthened from a category 1 to 4 in less than 10 hours, making it the most powerful hurricane to pass through the Grenadines since records began in 1851.

Beryl is the first hurricane of the season and an unprecedented size for this time of year. When the hurricane was upgraded to a Category 4 on Sunday, Beryl became the first Category 4 hurricane of the month of June and the earliest Category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic. Hurricane season in the United States runs from June to late November.

The ocean is already as warm as it normally is during the peak of hurricane season, expert Jim Kossin told CNN. “Hurricanes don’t know what month it is, they just know their ambient temperature. Beryl is breaking records for June because Beryl thinks it’s September.”

According to Kossin, the ocean’s warmth, which led to Beryl’s unprecedented scaling, “certainly has a human fingerprint.”

“Climate change is causing more intense hurricanes,” Christopher Rozoff, an atmospheric scientist at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research, told Reuters.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted in late May that an extraordinary season is coming. The agency expects four to seven hurricanes of Category 3 or higher to pass through.

Towards Jamaica and Mexico

Before the hurricane made landfall, hurricane warnings were issued for the islands of Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Tobago. Several Caribbean islands were expected to experience potentially deadly wind gusts and storms into early Monday morning, the NHC said.

Some of the Windward Islands had to take into account “life-threatening winds and storm surges,” it was said.

The Dutch islands of Sint Eustatius, Saba and Sint Maarten are located slightly north of the area where the hurricane first made landfall, but they too must expect serious disruption.

The hurricane is now moving towards the area around Jamaica and may later make landfall in Mexico.