A family outside their hurricane-damaged home in Grenada. Hurricane Beryl: Tens of thousands of victims in the Caribbean Climate and Environment
Hurricane Beryl headed toward Mexico on Friday after hitting the Caribbean islands earlier this week. This year’s hurricane season is likely to be prolonged and cause even more destruction, according to UN agencies and their partners who continue to provide emergency assistance in affected countries.
“Unfortunately, Beryl will not stop for several days… it will continue to cause damage,” said Claire Nullis of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Emergency measures
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said Thursday’s dangerous winds were affecting the most vulnerable populations in Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Barbados and Jamaica.
“We’ve heard from our colleagues in St. Vincent that people are literally arriving from Union Island into the main St. Vincent territory with nothing more than what they’re wearing,” said Rhea Pierre, IFRC emergency manager for English and Dutch speaking countries. countries of the Caribbean.
“Even government shelters were damaged, schools, churches and other buildings were damaged, their roofs were torn off, so people had to be relocated even from shelters,” she added she.
Damage Assessment
In Mexico, the hurricane has destroyed the coastline and is now slowly heading inland. Beryl, now a Category 2 hurricane, is forecast to weaken as it passes through the Yucatan Peninsula into the Gulf of Mexico.
“We have been preparing for this hurricane season, and I would say that such a severe storm this early in the year is extremely rare, and this is a warning that we are expecting a very intense hurricane season,” said Vanessa Huguenin, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. questions (OCHA). Disaster response teams were heading to the affected Caribbean islands, and a fundraiser would be announced soon after damage assessments were completed, she added.
Tens of thousands affected
According to the first unconfirmed reports, 40 thousand people were injured in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, more than 100 thousand in Grenada, and 120 thousand people in Jamaica.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June to late November, and 17 to 25 named storms are expected this year, more than the annual average. Of these, the WMO forecasts that between eight and 13 will become hurricanes – up from an average of seven in previous years.
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