Hurricane Beryl, a Category 4 Storm, Speeds Toward Jamaica (2024)

Hurricane Beryl, a Category 4 storm that swept through the Caribbean this week killing at least seven people and causing destruction, will pass near or over Jamaica on Wednesday afternoon, forecasters warned. Officials on the island have urged residents to prepare for what is expected to be a dangerous and difficult day with strong winds and heavy rains that may bring life-threatening flash floods.

Beryl’s well-defined eye, the calm area typically devoid of clouds in the center of a hurricane, was filled in early Wednesday morning on weather satellite imagery, a sign that the major hurricane may continue to weaken. Forecasters still face challenges predicting how much its intensity will decrease as it churns toward the Yucatán and how much it may restrengthen as it emerges into the Gulf of Mexico this weekend.

Here are key things to know about the storm.

• The storm surge accompanying Beryl is expected to raise water levels by up to nine feet along the coast of Jamaica as the storm passes over the island around Wednesday afternoon. The storm is expected to bring up to eight inches of rain across the island, with isolated amounts up to a foot. The heavy downpours may cause life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides.

• Beryl will approach the Cayman Islands overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning with hurricane conditions and two to four feet of storm surge.

• Beryl devastated islands in Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, killing at least four people, after making landfall earlier on Monday as a Category 4 hurricane. Another three people died in northern Venezuela, where the storm caused heavy rains and flooding.

• By the weekend, the storm is expected to emerge into the Gulf of Mexico, and it is quite possible it could restrengthen into a hurricane after passing over the Yucatán Peninsula on Friday. It’s expected to make another landfall somewhere along the western Gulf of Mexico on Sunday or Monday, but how strong and the exact path it takes is still uncertain.

• The Mexican government issued a hurricane watch for the peninsula’s east coast where hurricane-force winds and a three- to five-foot storm surge is possible Thursday into Friday. The government of Belize issued a tropical storm watch stretching south from the country’s border with Mexico to Belize City.

By early Wednesday, the hurricane had weakened slightly to winds of 145 miles per hour, having peaked on Tuesday with sustained wind speeds of 165 m.p.h., the center said. The weakening trend was likely to continue over the next couple of days. A hurricane needs wind speeds of at least 157 m.p.h. to be classified as a Category 5. A hurricane with winds of at least 111 m.p.h. is considered a major storm.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for parts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and a hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica, where hurricane conditions were expected on Wednesday, the center said. The government of the Cayman Islands issued a hurricane warning on Tuesday afternoon for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac.