Battered by Beryl
Jamaica’s south-western parishes hardest hit with at least two people feared dead
CARRYING devastating 110 mph winds with life-threatening storm surges, Hurricane Beryl battered Jamaica on Wednesday leaving at least two people dead, buildings badly damaged, and thousands of homes without power.
One woman died in Green Island, Hanover after a tree fell on her house, while a 20-year-old man was washed away by flood waters after he reportedly jumped into a gully in Arnett Gardens to retrieve a football.
The Met Service has reported that while Hurricane Beryl did not make landfall, the eye wall of the system hit southern parishes causing major damage in sections of Clarendon, Manchester, and St Elizabeth.
“By all reports I have gotten so far, south west St Elizabeth is facing complete devastation from Hurricane Beryl,” Minister of Agriculture Minister and Member of Parliament for St Elizabeth South Western Floyd Green said on Wednesday night.
“A number of people have reported that they lost their roofs in almost all communities in south west St Elizabeth stretching from Treasure Beach to Barbary Hall, to Vineyard…significant loss of roofs, a lot of downed trees, a lot of downed polls, and a number of roadways that are impassable.
“So it is a really tough situation and I want to commend the essential services team which have been out and about evacuating people, taking them to shelters, trying to clear some of the roads, I want to commend them,” added Green who is to conduct a further assessment today.
Category four Hurricane Beryl, one of the most powerful to ever hit Jamaica, brought more than 12 hours of heavy rain before leaving the island and moving towards the Cayman Islands and southern Mexico at Category 3.
Late Wednesday the Met Service lifted the hurricane warning that was in place for the entire island and replaced it with a flash flood watch.
According to the Met Service, as Beryl continues to move further away from Jamaica, its outer bands are expected to remain into this afternoon. Cloudy conditions are expected today, with isolated showers likely across southern parishes mainly during the morning.
The Met Service further advised that rising water will continue to affect coastal areas of south western parishes.
One of the many buildings damaged by Hurricane Beryl in Manchester
