Hurricane Beryl is forecast to become a Category 4 storm

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Beryl is forecast to strengthen into a powerful Category 4 storm as it approaches the southeastern Caribbean, which began closing Sunday after urgent requests from government officials for people to shelter.

Hurricane warnings were in effect for Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Beryl’s center was expected to pass about 70 miles south of Barbados Monday morning, said Sabu Best, director of the Barbados Meteorological Service.

“This is a very serious situation developing in the Leeward Islands,” warned the National Hurricane Center in Miami, which said Beryl “may bring life-threatening winds and storm surges.”

Beryl intensified into a Category 3 hurricane on Sunday morning, becoming the first strong hurricane recorded east of the Lesser Antilles in June, according to Philip Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University.

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

“Beryl is an extremely dangerous and rare hurricane for this time of year in this area,” he said in a telephone interview. “Extraordinary is an understatement. Beryl is already a historic hurricane and has not yet struck.

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

“So it’s a serious threat, a very serious threat,” Lowry said of Beryl.

Beryl was located about 410 miles (675 kilometers) east-southeast of Barbados. It was a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) and was moving west at 21 mph (33 km/h). It was expected to pass south of Barbados on Monday and then enter the Caribbean Sea as a major hurricane heading toward Jamaica. It is expected to weaken by midweek but remain a hurricane as it heads toward Mexico.

Forecasters are warning of a life-threatening storm surge of up to 10 feet in areas where Beryl makes landfall, and up to 6 inches of rain in Barbados and nearby islands.

Long lines formed at gas stations and grocery stores on Barbados and other islands as people rushed to prepare for the record-breaking storm that rapidly intensified into a tropical storm with winds of 35 mph on Friday and a Category 1 hurricane on Saturday.

Warm waters fed Beryl, and the heat content in the deep Atlantic was the highest on record for this time of year, according to Brian McNoldy, a tropical meteorologist at the University of Miami. Lowry said the waters are warmer now than they were at the peak of hurricane season in September.

Beryl marks the easternmost hurricane to form in the tropical Atlantic in June, breaking a record set in 1933, according to Philip Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University. If Beryl’s winds reach 125 mph, it would be the second-earliest Atlantic storm of its type on record, surpassing Audrey in 1957, he said.

“We must remain vigilant,” Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said in a public speech late Saturday. “We don’t want to put anyone’s life at risk.”

Thousands of people flocked to Barbados for Saturday’s Twenty20 World Cup final, cricket’s biggest event. Mottley noted that not all fans were able to leave on Sunday, even though many rushed to change their flights.

“Some of them have never been through a storm before,” she said. “We have plans to address them.”

Mottley said all businesses should close by Sunday evening and warned that the airport would be closed overnight.

Kemar Saffrey, president of a Barbadian group that aims to end homelessness, said in a video posted on social media Saturday evening that people without homes think they can cope with storms because they have done it before.

“I don’t want them to take that approach,” he said, warning that Beryl was a dangerous storm and urging Barbadians to send homeless people to shelters.

He was echoed by Wilfred Abrahams, Minister of Interior and Information.

“I need Barbados now to be their brother’s keeper,” he said. “Some people are defenseless.”

Meanwhile, Saint Lucia Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre announced a national lockdown for Sunday evening and said schools and businesses would remain closed on Monday.

“Preserving and protecting life is the priority,” he said.

Caribbean leaders were bracing not only for Beryl but also for a series of storms following the hurricane, which 70 percent predicted could become a tropical depression.

“Don’t let your guard down,” Mottley said.

Beryl is the second named storm in the forecast above-average hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30 in the Atlantic. Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Alberto came ashore in northeastern Mexico with heavy rains that killed four people.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts the 2024 hurricane season will likely be well above average, with 17 to 25 named storms. The forecast calls for up to 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of which are hurricanes and three major hurricanes.