Many Jamaicans without power after storm

Hundreds of thousands of homes in Jamaica are still without power in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.

The Category 4 storm, one of the most powerful the country has ever seen, battered the island’s south coast on Wednesday night, bringing more than 12 hours of heavy rain.

Officials and residents are assessing the damage after an island-wide curfew was lifted early Thursday.

Beryl has now weakened to a Category 3 storm and is heading toward Mexico and the Cayman Islands. It wreaked havoc across the Caribbean, killing at least 10 people.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Venezuela each reported three deaths, while Jamaica had one death.

The storm destroyed nearly all homes on the two small islands of Mayreau and Union in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

In the capital, Kingston, although the winds were very strong, they were not the hurricane expected. But the continued heavy rain is a real concern, particularly on farmland where flooding has been reported.

“It’s terrible. Everything is gone. I’m at home and I’m scared,” a resident of a rural farming community told Reuters.

“It’s a disaster,” said Amy Wellington, who lives in St. Elizabeth’s southern parish.

Wednesday night I was able to go out briefly and move the car away from the overhanging trees.

A full-length mirror sat next to the car – it might have blown off someone’s balcony, a reminder that in such strong winds, unexpected objects suddenly turn into missiles.

Jamaican energy supplier JPS said 65%, or about 400,000 customers, were without power Thursday morning.

The St Elizabeth South West MP said the hurricane had dealt “the most devastating blow” to parts of the island.

Floyd Green posted on X that his district has “a lot of roofs [have been] People are missing, homes are destroyed, trees are uprooted, light poles are knocked down and nearly all roads are impassable.

King Charles III, who concurrently serves as monarch of several Caribbean countries, said Thursday that he was “deeply saddened to learn of the horrific devastation caused by Hurricane Beryl.”

The United Nations has allocated $4m (£3.1m) from its emergency response fund to help recover in Jamaica, Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness thanked “first responders, essential services, security forces and good Samaritans who help others in times of crisis” on his X account.

Beryl became the earliest Category 5 Atlantic hurricane ever recorded nearly 100 years ago – It is thought to be the result of rising ocean surface temperatures.

Meteorologists were stunned by the storm’s rapid intensity – it took just 42 hours to transform from a tropical depression to a major hurricane.

Additional reporting by Alex Smith and Tiffany Wertheimer