The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Hurricane Beryl smashes into Caribbean, turns sights on Mexico
As Hurricane Beryl’s destructive path shifted to Mexico on Friday after roiling the Caribbean, UN agencies and partners said that the emergency response was underway, before warning that a very long and damaging hurricane season looks increasingly likely.
“Unfortunately, we haven't heard the last of Beryl for the next few days…it's going to carry on causing damage,” said Clare Nullis, spokesperson for the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which previously warned that Beryl is the earliest Category 5 Atlantic Ocean hurricane on record.
To date, Beryl has left a trail of destruction in Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines after making landfall on Monday as a category four hurricane. It then impacted Jamaica on Wednesday.
Most vulnerable hit
UN partner the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said that life-threatening winds and winds on Thursday had severely impacted “the most vulnerable populations” in Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Jamaica.
“We heard from our colleagues in Saint Vincent that people are literally coming from Union Island to the mainland of Saint Vincent with nothing but the clothes on their backs,” said Rhea Pierre, IFRC Disaster Manager for the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean.
Roofs blown off
“Even the government shelters have been damaged because there are schools and churches and other buildings that have been impacted, the roofs have been blown off so they have had to relocate people even within the shelters,” she said.
The developments came as Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Mexico and battered the coastline before moving slowly inland. The storm remains a category two hurricane and was forecast to weaken as it moves across the Yucatan Peninsula and emerges in the Gulf of Mexico.
“We have been preparing for this hurricane season and I would say that such a strong storm this early is extremely rare and it's also a warning for the anticipated very intense hurricane season that is coming,” said Vanessa Huguenin, spokesperson, from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA. Disaster response teams are en route for the affected Caribbean islands and an appeal will be announced shortly once assessments of the damage have been completed, she added.
Tens of thousands affected
Early, unconfirmed reports indicate that an estimated 40,000 people have been impacted in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, more than 100,000 in Grenada and another 120,000 people in Jamaica.
The Atlantic storm season runs from June through the end of November, with 17 to 25 named storms expected (the average is 14). Of those, the WMO said that eight to 13 are forecast to become hurricanes – above the average of seven - including four to seven major hurricanes (average is three). A major hurricane is category three, four or five on the Saffir Simpson scale, with winds of 111 mph / 178 km/h or higher.
“This new reality of unprecedented hurricanes is becoming an annual and ever-present reality for the Caribbean countries while facing the brunt of climate change,” said Rhea Pierre, IFRC Disaster Manager. “The severity of damages in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl are tangible and devastating.”
ends
STORY: Hurricane Beryl update – OCHA, WMO, IFRC
TRT: 02 min 00s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 5 APRIL 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior medium: UN Geneva flag alley.
- Wide: podium from rear, Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Rhea Pierre, IFRC Disaster Manager for the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean (From Port of Spain): “Red Cross teams on the ground have confirmed that life-threatening winds and winds have severely impacted the most vulnerable populations in Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and Jamaica.”
- Medium: Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Rhea Pierre, IFRC Disaster Manager: “Yesterday we heard from our colleagues in Saint Vincent that people are literally coming from Union Island to the mainland of Saint Vincent with nothing but the clothes on their backs.”
- Wide: Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Rhea Pierre, IFRC Disaster Manager: “Even the government shelters have been damaged because there are schools and churches and other buildings that have been impacted, the roofs have been blown off so they have had to relocate people even within the shelters.”
- Medium: Press room podium from rear.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Vanessa Huguenin, spokesperson, OCHA: “We have been preparing for this hurricane season and I would say that such a strong storm this early is extremely rare and it's also a warning for the anticipated very intense hurricane season that is coming.”
- Wide, Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Clare Nullis, spokesperson, WMO: “We haven't heard - unfortunately, we haven't heard the last of Beryl for the next few days...it's going to carry on causing damage.”
- Medium-wide, journalists.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Clare Nullis, spokesperson, WMO: “We rate hurricanes by the strength of their winds. But quite often it's the water which poses the real threat. So very, very, very heavy rainfall is expected and obviously the risk of storm surge and coastal flooding in vulnerable coastal communities.”
- Medium-wide, journalists.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Rhea Pierre, IFRC Disaster Manager: “This new reality of unprecedented hurricanes is becoming an annual and ever-present reality for the Caribbean countries while facing the brunt of climate change. The severity of damages in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl are tangible and devastating.”
- Medium: journalist.
- Medium: journalist.
- Medium: journalist.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in Libya are subjected to ruthless and systematic human rights violations and abuses, which include killings, torture, sexual violence and trafficking,” the UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva today.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , IOM
Four years of war in Ukraine: Childhood has ‘moved underground’, displacement continues – UN humanitarians
Civilian suffering shows no sign of letting up in Ukraine as the four-year-mark of Russia’s full-scale invasion nears amid attacks on energy infrastructure, blackouts and freezing temperatures, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office on Friday voiced concerns about the severe impacts on human rights of the socio-economic crisis in Cuba.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Madagascar: ‘Overwhelming’ destruction, surging needs after back-to-back cyclones – WFP
Some 10 days after tropical cyclone Fytia brought heavy rains and flooding to Madagascar, cyclone Gezani has left the island’s main port in ruins, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN rights chief urges de-escalation in Tigray amid rising tensions and violence.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , WHO , OHCHR
In Sudan, sick and starving children ‘wasting away’ – UN humanitarians
Relentless violence, famine and disease are picking off Sudan’s children while attacks on healthcare and a lack of aid access hamper efforts to help them, UN humanitarian agencies warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Monday gave an update to the Human Rights Council on the situation in El Fasher, Sudan.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“A series of new Israeli operations and settlement plans in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, risk seriously undermining the viability of a Palestinian state and the realisation of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination,” the UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva today.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNIS
UN voices concern over chemical spraying incident on Lebanon’s Blue Line
The UN reiterated concerns on Friday at reports that Israeli forces sprayed herbicide over areas north of the Blue Line separating Lebanon from Israel. The development poses a “serious humanitarian risk” to civilians living there, said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), briefing journalists in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Five patients evacuated as Rafah reopens while ‘too many stayed behind’ – WHO
As time is running out for thousands of critically ill patients in Gaza, hope is alive for medical evacuations to increase with the reopening of the Rafah crossing in the southern part of the Strip, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNOG , OHCHR
This Sunday marks five years of crisis in Myanmar. Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights, and James Rodehaver, chief of the Myanmar team, today spoke on the conduct of recent military-imposed elections, deploring the failure to respect the fundamental human rights of the country’s citizens. The process served only to exacerbate violence and societal polarization.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Brutal Gaza war erased years of progress on education, in an “assault on the future itself” – UNICEF
Restoring Gaza’s shattered education system is “lifesaving” and getting children back into schools must be an immediate priority, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.