KINGSTON, Jamaica (NEWSnet/AP) — Hurricane Beryl roared toward Jamaica on Wednesday, with islanders scrambling to make preparations. The storm had already killed at least six people the southeast Caribbean.

Beryl had reached as high as Category 5 strength, and at its current Category 4 it remains an unusually powerful storm this early in the Atlantic hurricane season.

 

Beryl was forecast to weaken slightly over the next day or two, but still be at or near major-hurricane strength when it passes near or over Jamaica on Wednesday, near the Cayman Islands on Thursday and into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

In the meantime, a hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac.

A hurricane watch was in effect for Haiti’s southern coast and the Yucatan’s east coast. Belize issued a tropical storm watch stretching south from its border with Mexico to Belize City.

On Monday, Beryl became the earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic and peaked at winds of 165 mph Tuesday before weakening to a still-destructive Category 4.

Storm Fatalities:

 

  • Three people were reported killed in Grenada and Carriacou and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said.
  • Two deaths were confirmed so far in northern Venezuela, where five people are missing, officials said.
  • One fatality in Grenada occurred after a tree fell on a house, Kerryne James, the environment minister, told The Associated Press.

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