By Luke Siddham Dundon: Overseas, Hurricane Beryl has left a path of destruction across the Caribbean and the damage is set to continue as the storm bears down on Mexico. Beryl has already devastated fishing industries and destroyed an extraordinary number of homes. It’s the earliest Category 5 hurricane the Atlantic has seen and the area is bracing for what could be an extremely intense hurricane season to come. Alexandra Humphries reports.
Alexandra Humphries : At this marina in Barbados, debris is strewn throughout the water. Boats are a jumbled mess, some submerged after Hurricane Beryl swept through. Everton Braithwaite is one of thousands employed as a fisherman here.
Everton Braithwaite : All the vessels in here have damage, all have damage. Structural damage, but we got a good few vessels that is underwater.
Alexandra Humphries : Hurricane Beryl struck Barbados as a Category 4 storm earlier in the week, having previously become the earliest Category 5 storm the Atlantic has seen. It damaged or destroyed 95% of homes on the islands of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Everton Braithwaite : I never really experienced a system like this yet at this magnitude, but yeah, I don’t think that nobody wants to go through this here.
Alexandra Humphries : After Barbados, the powerful storm moved on to Jamaica and then lashed the Cayman Islands. The Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness says after assessing the damage, it could have been much worse.
Andrew Holness : We did have in the southeastern end of the island some impact from storm surges, but in general, I think most Jamaicans would be of the view that having been hit by a Category 4 hurricane, we escaped the worst.
Alexandra Humphries : Peter Bult is UNICEF’s representative for the Eastern Caribbean.
Pieter Bult : A category 4 or 5 in these small island states is very significant and it’s very devastating to not just the population, but to the economy, because the economy is thriving on tourism, the economy is thriving on fisheries to a large extent and that is severely impacted.
Alexandra Humphries : So far, at least 10 people have died as Beryl works her way across the Caribbean, but a final toll may be a way off yet.
Pieter Bult : There is a significant number of casualties. There are significant numbers of people without their homes, significant numbers of children affected.
Alexandra Humphries : UNICEF is already mobilising its supports for the region as attention turns to recovery and rebuilding. Peter Bult says relief efforts will rely on financial assistance from other nations.
Pieter Bult : Certainly the governments are doing what they can do. Of course, most governments in the region are generally very well prepared. We knew this was going to be a very intense hurricane season. We did not expect this first storm of a Category 4 or 5 already happening as early in the season as July, as the first of July. So that was a rude welcoming to this, the start of this hurricane season. But countries have been preparing for this.
Alexandra Humphries : Hurricane Beryl is far from over. People on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula are bracing as the hurricane closes in. Tourists have found themselves stranded in the popular holiday spot.
Tourist 1: We’re worried about the hurricane and not just for us, but all the people who are travelling. We just want to go back home safely and pray the same for everybody else, but we’re just stranded here.
Tourist 2: We’ll be staying here because our flight’s not due home till Monday. And I think we’ll just take advice from the hotel and the reps that are there. We’re not too scared.
Alexandra Humphries : The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting above normal hurricane activity in the Atlantic this year due to near record warm ocean temperatures and the development of La Nina conditions in the Pacific.
Luke Siddham Dundon: Alexandra Humphries reporting.
