Hurricane Beryl, a powerful Category 5 storm, forecast to bring life-threatening conditions to Jamaica

Hurricane Beryl was tearing through the Caribbean on Tuesday as a record-breaking Category 5 storm. After ripping doors, windows and roofs off homes across the southeastern Caribbean on Monday, it is now forecast to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge to Jamaica.

Beryl's center is expected to move quickly across the southeastern and central Caribbean Sea on Tuesday and pass near Jamaica on Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

"Weakening is forecast later today, but Beryl is still expected to be near major hurricane intensity as it moves into the central Caribbean and passes near Jamaica on Wednesday and the Cayman Islands on Thursday," the hurricane center said. "Additional weakening is expected thereafter, though Beryl is forecast to remain a hurricane in the northwestern Caribbean."

Beryl made landfall on the island of Carriacou in Grenada as the earliest Category 4 storm in the Atlantic, then late in the day the center said its winds had increased to Category 5 strength, meaning it had winds of 157 mph or higher. As of late Tuesday morning, the hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 160 mph, the center said.

Beryl is the earliest Category 5 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin and is only the second Category 5 storm recorded in July since 2005, according to the hurricane center.

Three people were reported killed in Grenada and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said. One fatality in Grenada occurred after a tree fell on a house, Kerryne James, minister of climate resilience, environment and renewable energy, told The Associated Press.

Streets from St. Lucia island south to Grenada were strewn with shoes, trees, downed power lines and other debris. Banana trees were snapped in half and cows lay dead in green pastures with homes made of tin and plywood tilting precariously nearby.

As of late Tuesday morning, Beryl was about 235 miles southeast of Isla Beata in the Dominican Republic and 555 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. It was moving west-northwest at 22 mph.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and a hurricane watch was posted for the Cayman Islands and the southern coast of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Anse d'Hainault. A tropical storm warning was in place for the southern coast of the Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque westward to the border with Haiti and the southern coast of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Anse d'Hainault.

"Remain in place through the passage of these life-threatening conditions and do not venture out in the eye of the storm," the hurricane center warned people in the storm's path.

Historic hurricane

It took Beryl only 42 hours to strengthen from a tropical depression to a major hurricane — a feat accomplished only six other times in Atlantic hurricane history, and with Sept. 1 as the earliest date, according to hurricane expert Sam Lillo.

Beryl became the third Category 3 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic in June, following Audrey in 1957 and Alma in 1966, hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry said.

"Beryl is an extremely dangerous and rare hurricane for this time of year in this area," he told the AP in a phone interview earlier this week. "Unusual is an understatement," he said, calling Beryl historic.

Hurricane Ivan in 2004 was the last strongest hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean, causing catastrophic damage in Grenada as a Category 3 storm.

"So this is a serious threat, a very serious threat," Lowry said of Beryl.

Beryl is the second named storm in what is predicted to be a busy hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 in the Atlantic. Last week, Tropical Storm Alberto brought torrential flooding to portions of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. It was responsible for at least four deaths in the Mexican states of Nuevo Leon and Veracruz.  

According to CBS News weather producer David Parkinson, Beryl is the farthest east a hurricane has formed in June, and one of only two to do so east of the Caribbean, with the other instance occurring in 1933. Parkinson expects Beryl to remain south of Jamaica, and forecasts that any U.S. impacts are still at least eight days away.

Warm waters are fueling Beryl, with ocean heat content in the deep Atlantic the highest on record for this time of year, according to Brian McNoldy, University of Miami tropical meteorology researcher.

Forecasters warned of a life-threatening storm surge of up to 9 feet in areas where Beryl will make landfall, with up to 6 inches of rain for Barbados and nearby islands.

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