The Eastern Caribbean was bracing for the unusually early category
four hurricane Barrel as it raced toward them. Sunday
shops in ST Vincent were boarded up while residents packed
petrol stations to fill up their cars. While 100
miles to the east in Barbados, shoppers were rushing
to stock up at this supermarket in Bridgetown. Beryl
has already made history as the earliest category four hurricane
on record and it's expected to bring life threatening winds
and flash floods to the island on Monday. Justina
is a manager at a hardware store in. We
open about half an hour earlier this morning to accommodate
the rush and they have been buying generators, 55
B kits, everything you can think about they're getting
, we are almost out of, you can see
search lights, extension cords, ladders, tape whatever
they can get their hands on. They're getting the
US. National Hurricane Center says the hurricane was located
about 250 miles southeast of Barbados on Sunday afternoon with
winds of 130 MPH. It is rare for a
major hurricane to appear this early in the Atlantic hurricane
season which runs from the start of June to the
end of November. A category four storm is the
second strongest level on a five step scale. Michael
Brennan, the director of National Hurricane Center says a
storm of that strength can be destructive when you get
to category four strength. You can see things like
total roof uh damage, uh roofs uh lifted off
of homes, exterior wall collapse, uh trees uprooted
significant damage and a complete destruction of power lines and
other infrastructure in May. The US. National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration predicted above normal Atlantic hurricane activity for
2024 due to warm ocean temperatures. Beryl comes a
little over a week earlier than previous record holder.
Hurricane Dennis which got category four on July 8,
2005. Hurricane warnings have been issued in Barbados,
ST Lucia, ST Vincent and Grenadine Islands, Granada
and Tobago with tropical storm watches everywhere in the Caribbean
. While dangerous swells are expected to hit Puerto Rico
and Hispaniola.