Jamaica is bracing itself for the arrival of Hurricane Beryl, which has already killed several people in its destructive path through the Caribbean.

According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC), Beryl’s eye will pass over Jamaica or close to it during the day on Wednesday, bringing life-threatening winds and storm surges.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that the outer winds of the hurricane would reach Jamaica before dawn on Wednesday.

“I am now declaring the whole of Jamaica to be a disaster area … for the next seven days,” Mr Holness said in a national address.

He said an island-wide curfew would go into effect between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

This was “to ensure the safety of everyone during the passage of the storm, and prevent any movement with the intent to carry out criminal activity.”

He added that the government has made “a special allocation” of funds for food and building supplies.

The final preparations being made in Jamaica included providing emergency shelters and cleaning road drains to try and prevent flooding.

The Kingston and Montego Bay airports were to be closed overnight for the time being.

The NHC said that Beryl was temporarily upgraded to a “potentially catastrophic” category 5 – the highest level – late on Monday but has since lost some of its intensity.

With sustained maximum winds of 230 kilometres per hour, Beryl is now a category 4 storm, just below the threshold of 251 km/h for category 5.

Beryl made landfall on Monday morning in the south-eastern Caribbean island of Carriacou, which is part of Grenada.

The storm brought devastation to Grenada’s Carriacou and Petite Martinique, destroying homes and cutting power and communication lines.

Neighbouring island states were also battered by heavy rains and strong winds, including St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St Lucia.

Three deaths were reported from Grenada, two from Venezuela and one from St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez was struck by a falling tree during Hurricane Beryl, according to the government.

“She was hit hard, but she is conscious,” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said in a speech to supporters.

Mr Rodríguez had travelled to the northern coastal state of Sucre to oversee the clean-up of damage caused by Beryl.

UN spokesman Stephané Dujarric told journalists in New York that seven agencies based in Grenada and nine in St Vincent and the Grenadines “will be augmented by additional UN emergency teams in the coming days.”

Beryl is the first hurricane of the season, which starts at the beginning of June.

According to experts, never before has a hurricane of this magnitude been recorded in the Atlantic this early in the year.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expects an unusually strong hurricane season this year amid rising water temperatures due to climate change and La Niña, a season of cooler water temperatures in the Pacific expected to set in this year. 

(dpa/NAN)