Extensive damage, but lives spared as Beryl blows through Windwards

ALTHOUGH Hurricane Beryl remains an “extremely dangerous major hurricane,” passing through the Windward Islands on July 1, Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Martinique – all under hurricane warning – appear so far to have escaped deadly catastrophe.

The islands experienced widespread power outages, water shortages and infrastructure damage, but no deaths or major injuries associated with the hurricane have been reported.

Beryl hit Carriacou, off Grenada, on the morning of July 1 after being upgraded to category four, with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (approximately 225 km/h).

In a statement just after midday, Grenada PM Dickon Mitchell said he anticipates damage caused by the hurricane in Carriacou “will be extreme.

“As soon as it is safe to do so I will journey to Carriacou to assess the damage and to give a full report to the nation,” he said, adding that while the eye of the hurricane did not pass over Grenada, the island expected strong winds, storm surge and continued heavy precipitation "for the next several hours”

Patricia Walcott, who is from Trinidad and Tobago but lives in Grenada, told Newsday she felt she had prepared as best as possible, having experienced hurricanes Ivan (2004) and Emily (2005) – but was still shaken throughout the latest storm.

“The wind is very strong and the eerie howling noises and other sounds heard can put one in panic,” she told Newsday from Tempe, a short distance from St George’s, over the phone minutes after noon.

“I am monitoring my surroundings and in touch with friends.”

She said she lost power immediately after strong winds started.

“I live alone and although I blocked and padded my windows and doors, I keep monitoring, as the sounds, as I mentioned, sound threatening,” Walcott said.

“The only sound is the rain and wind."

Despite being worried, she said, “However, I am sending out a prayer to friends and relatives and trying to have equanimity of spirit and trying to walk by faith, not by sight.”

Walcott said her neighbours had all followed the instructions given by government and disaster agencies and that the island was “quite prepared with the PM (Dickon Mitchell) at the helm.”

Strong winds increased throughout the morning, with Walcott saying she experienced the worst of it at 12.15 pm.

“Right now I’m holding my front door. Although blocked, it’s shaking as if one wants to break in,” she said.

But at 12.32 pm, she reported that the wind “suddenly died down.”

Power had not returned as of 1.30 pm.

In Barbados, Steven Nahous, a TT-born Barbados resident living close to Worthing, in the south of the island, said the breeze had him “holding onto my balcony for dear life.”

He said cellphone reception had been spotty and he was unable to reach his family. He also said his area had lost power.

Eldonté Samuel, a newspaper reporter from St Vincent, said he saw fallen power lines and uprooted trees long before the winds reached maximum strength.

"Seas were rough and the wind was very strong, moving me a couple times," he said.