This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/GOES satellite handout image shows Tropical Storm Beryl. Photo: AFP PHOTO /NOAA/GOES
Hurricane Beryl has become a very dangerous Category 4 storm in the Atlantic Ocean and is expected to bring life-threatening winds and flash flooding to the Caribbean's Windward Islands as it rapidly strengthens into Monday, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
The first hurricane of the 2024 season was located about 565km east-southeast of Barbados on Sunday morning, with maximum sustained winds of 215km/h, the NHC said in an advisory.
It is rare for a major hurricane to appear this early in the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from 1 June to 30 November. On Sunday, Beryl became the earliest Category 4 hurricane on record, beating Hurricane Dennis, which became a Category 4 on 8 July, 2005, according to NHC data.
Hurricane warnings have been issued in Barbados, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadine Islands, Grenada and Tobago.
The NHC warned those islands to brace for up to 15cm of rain. It said Beryl would raise water levels by up to 2.74 metres above normal tide levels where the hurricane makes landfall.
Last month, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted "above-normal hurricane activity" in the Atlantic in 2024, in part due to near-record warm ocean temperatures.
- Reuters