ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (CMC) – Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell says he anticipates that the damage caused by Hurricane Beryl on the Grenadine island of Carriacou “will be extreme” as the eye of the hurricane made landfall earlier on Monday.

“As soon as it is safe to do so I will journey to Carriacou to assess the damage and to give a full report to the nation,” Mitchell said, adding that while the eye of the hurricane did not pass over Grenada “we are expected to have strong winds, storm surge and continued heavy precipitation for the next several hours”.

Earlier, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that Hurricane Beryl with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour (mph) had made landfall in Carriacou.

“Satellite imagery and Barbados radar data indicate that the eye of Beryl has made landfall on Carriacou Island at 11.10 am (local time),” the NHC said in a brief urgent updated statement.

“Data from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that Beryl’s maximum sustained winds have increased to 150 mph,” it added.

Mitchell in his statement said “it has been a long morning and perhaps an even longer morning for our brothers and sisters in Carriacou and Petite Martinique who are bearing the brunt of Hurricane Beryl,” adding “it is a very strong almost border line category 5 hurricane.

“The expectation is that the damage in Carriacou and Petite Martinique is going to be extreme,” Mitchell said, adding that the Minister for Carriacou and Petite Martinique, Kevin Andrew has already indicated “that there was devastation all around

“We therefore expect that we will have to quickly transition into damage assessment and recovery and stabilisation mode and we are already beginning to look at our plans to make sure we respond as quickly as possible to the needs of our brothers and sisters in Carriacou and Petite Martinique.

‘We have reports of extensive storm surge, reports of extensive loss of roofs and damage to buildings and there is no electricity on any of the islands and communication is also difficult.”

Mitchell said because of the rough seas and “the eye of the hurricane has just passed over Carriacou we anticipate that we may be in for another three to four hours of strong winds and even greater damage.

“So in the circumstances we have to continue to hunker down, pray for our brothers and sisters in Carriacou and Petite Martinique and we certainly hope that the hurricane moves on quickly, so that we can get the opportunity, hopefully by late evening to begin the damage assessment and the recovery operations.

“We will be working closely with our regional partners to make sure that we can do so. We suspect that Union island is also bearing the brunt of the storm,” Mitchell said, adding that he has been in contact with St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves.

“He will provide an update to the region in relation to Union Island but we will take a coordinated response given that they are all Grenadine islands to make sure our brothers and sisters in the Grenadines are well served.

“I have already instructed the Housing Authority to make available to the citizens of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, the Chinese built affordable homes so that if necessary anyone without a roof over their head can have immediate access to the site for temporary housing.”

Mitchell said instructions have also been given to the Ministry of Finance and to the Ministry of Petite Martinique and Carriacou Affairs to identify local suppliers on the Grenadine islands, with stock on hand, including water and canned goods “to make them immediately available so that we can mount the recovery efforts as soon as possible.

“The warnings, the advice therefore remain in effect. We have several reports of damage to buildings, several reports of roofs being blown off, including the Central Police Station,” he said adding that the roof at one of the hospitals had also been damaged.

“It is not only Carriacou bearing significant damage, parts of Grenada doing the same. So we want to urge you to remain safe…to our citizens at the shelters we are asking you to bear with us. It is not safe to send persons out on the roadways at this time…to provide relief to you.

‘We are prayerful and optimistic that by late evening it will become safe to send relief out to you,” he said, adding “we will keep the state of emergency in place as per the emergency regulations.

‘We will try to do the damage assessment as quickly as it could be done…and once we are able to do so we will provide further updates to the nation,” Mitchell added.