Four dead in aftermath of Hurricane Beryl

THE DEADLY Hurricane Beryl has claimed at least four lives after making landfall in the southeast Caribbean.

On July 2 Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said at least three people were killed and “possibly more,” after Hurricane Beryl battered Grenada and its sister islands on July 1 with winds in excess of 140 miles per hour (mph).

He was speaking at a news conference in the capital St George's, a CMC news report said.

Mitchell, said two of the deaths occurred on the sister isle of Carriacou and the other on the mainland in Grenada.

On July 1, St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said one person had died on the Grenadine island of Bequia.

Hurricane Beryl, now a monstrous Category 5 storm, is on a path that will take it near Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

A hurricane warning is in effect for Jamaica and a hurricane watch for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Cayman Brac and for Haiti's entire southern coast.

Beryl is forecast to start losing intensity later today but still to be near major hurricane strength when it passes near Jamaica on July 3, the Cayman Islands on July 4 and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on July 5, according to the US National Hurricane Center.