Hurricane Beryl battered Jamaica with 12 consecutive hours of strong winds and several months' worth of rain. As it has claimed at least eight lives across the Caribbean.
ADVERTISEMENTAfter Hurricane Beryl was moving away from Jamaica late Wednesday local time, the island discontinued its hurricane warning but kept a flash flood watch, authorities said.
Prior to its impact, islanders had rushed to prepare after the powerful Category 4 storm had already claimed at least seven lives and caused significant damage in the southeastern Caribbean.
The death toll has since risen to at least eight after one person was reported to have died in Jamaica.
By late Wednesday, the storm's eye was about 161 km west of the capital Kingston as its core headed toward the Cayman Islands, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).
In Kingston, residents boarded up windows, fishermen pulled their boats from the water, and workers took down roadside advertising boards to protect them from the intense winds.
Kingston resident Pauline Lynch said she had stockpiled food and water in anticipation of the storm.
With winds already whipping up a light rain, Lynch remarked, “I have no control over what is coming, so I just have to pray that all people of Jamaica are safe and we don’t suffer any deaths or losses.”
A hurricane warning remained in effect for Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac.
Beryl was expected to weaken slightly over the next day or two but remain at or near major hurricane strength as it passed into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday.