Sin categoría

Hurricane Beryl leaves at least 6 dead, destruction and “alarming precedent” in the Caribbean

Beryl’s passage through the Caribbean has already left at least six dead, generating concern about the speed in its formation and for reaching the greatest power that a cyclone (category 5) can have at such an early stage in the Atlantic hurricane season, something that is seen as an “alarming precedent.”

On Monday night, Beryl reached category 5 (the maximum on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which measures cyclones by its winds), and dropped to 4 on Tuesday afternoon, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC), based in Miami.

At least three people died on Tuesday in Granada, in addition to a death recorded on Monday in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, islands of the Eastern Caribbean.

The Prime Minister of Granada, Dickon Mitchell, said that “possibly more” people have lost their lives on this island and neighboring Carriacou.

Mitchell said that efforts are being made to get a helicopter to visit Carriacou since the sea is still very rough and the Coast Guard ships probably won’t be able to arrive.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

The cyclone, the first of the Atlantic hurricane season, has left significant destruction of buildings, roads and boats in several countries of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), which suspended its annual meeting and convened a virtual meeting to evaluate the damage and design a collective response.

On the other hand, the Venezuelan authorities reported on Tuesday two deaths, five missing and more than 600 homes affected in the state of Sucre (northeast), due to the overflow of the Manzanares River after the passage of Beryl.

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Remigio Ceballos, reported that medical care was provided to the population and that “reinforcements” were deployed with firefighters and other rescue organizations “for analysis, damage assessment and mitigation work.”

In Puerto Rico, the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA) reported the closure of several spas in the north and southwest of the island due to the dangerous maritime conditions caused by the hurricane.

“The conditions are not suitable for bathers,” the DRNA urged in its message, while the National Meteorological Service (SNM) issued warnings of coastal flooding and marine currents, as well as for small boats.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

On the other hand, the Dominican Republic began to feel the indirect effects of the hurricane on Tuesday, which remains a dangerous system with maximum sustained winds of 260 kilometers per hour (160 miles per hour).

Faced with this panorama, the Emergency Operations Center (COE) of the Dominican Republic put on alert 24 of the country’s 32 provinces, two of them, Barahona and Pedernales (southwest) in red (maximum), and where the indirect effects of the hurricane are already felt, which led to the start of preventive evacuations and the suspension of classes.

Meanwhile, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador criticized on Tuesday the “sensationalism” around Hurricane Beryl, which at the end of this week may make landfall in southeastern Mexico.

“They will never be helpless, but also do not get upset, because there will also be a lot of sensationalism, too much information about the hurricane, exaggerated,” the president said.

The National Meteorological Service (SMN) warned on Monday of a double impact in Mexico, where between Thursday and Friday it would land in Quintana Roo, the largest tourist state in the country, and between Sunday and Monday in Veracruz, in the Gulf of Mexico.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

On the other hand, cruise companies such as Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Carnival diverted or canceled their itineraries before Beryl’s advance through the Caribbean, justifying the priority of the safety of their guests and crew.

Beryl will be heading to Jamaica – it is expected to pass near this island on Wednesday – and the next day it will affect the Cayman Islands. In addition, it can pass through the coasts of Haiti from the borders with the Dominican Republic to the town of Anse d’Hainault, according to the NHC.

Precisely, the Government of Jamaica announced on Tuesday the closure of the international airport and the non-essential government offices, as part of the preparations for the arrival of the cyclone.

Beryl surprised the small archipelagos of the Eastern Caribbean with its rapid formation and ability to gain power, which according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an “alarming precedent.”

The UN meteorological agency stressed that since it was registered, a hurricane of maximum intensity had never been formed in the Atlantic at this point of the year.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

In the current Atlantic season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, three tropical storms have already formed with name: Alberto, Beryl and Chris, the latter that also had a rapid development and wreaked havoc in Mexico.

For the WMO, the arrival of Beryl with this force two weeks earlier than usual could be the anticipation of “a very active season with risks for the entire Atlantic basin.”

Meteorologist José Manuel Galvez told EFE that in recent years there has been a process known as “rapid intensification” of these tropical systems, which “tends to prevail.”

According to the NHC, it is expected that by midweek Beryl will gradually lose intensity, although he will still maintain hurricane winds.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

Related Topics:Hurricane Beryl López Obrador

Up Next

Kamala Harris, after meeting with Netanyahu: it’s time to end the war in Gaza

Don't Miss

Mexican opposition bloc asks to “abstain” from declaring a winner before the official count

20260224_estafa_mh_300x250

Sin categoría

FBI Most Wanted Fugitive Arrested in Mexico and Deported to U.S.

Authorities in Mexico announced Thursday that Samuel Ramírez Jr., a U.S. citizen accused of murdering two women and listed among the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, was arrested in the northern state of Sinaloa.

Ramírez Jr., 33, was detained Tuesday in Culiacán just 1 hour and 13 minutes after being added to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Ten Most Wanted list, the agency said in a statement.

The suspect, who was born in California, has already been deported to the U.S. state of Washington, where he faces charges related to the fatal shooting of two women at a bar in Federal Way in May 2023.

A court issued an arrest warrant for Ramírez in November last year, and the FBI initially offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to his capture, later increasing the amount to up to $1 million.

“To protect individuals’ privacy and ensure continued cooperation from the public, the FBI does not confirm the identity of those who provide information,” the agency said in its statement.

20260224_estafa_mh_728x90

Sin categoría

UN experts warn Nicaragua runs vast transnational network to monitor exiled dissidents

Nicaragua maintains an “extensive” transnational network to monitor and intimidate opposition figures living in exile, affecting “hundreds of thousands” of people, the United Nations Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua warned on Tuesday.

In a statement, the experts said their report “details an extensive transnational architecture of surveillance and intelligence used to monitor, intimidate and attack the hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans living abroad.”

The report, which will be presented on March 16 to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, states that the structure maintained by the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo includes the army, the police, migration authorities and diplomatic missions.

According to the statement, “the government has arbitrarily stripped 452 Nicaraguans of their nationality, left thousands more exiled in a situation of de facto statelessness, and prevented many from returning to Nicaragua.”

Sin categoría

Trump: ‘We Think It’s True’ Amid Claims Iran’s Supreme Leader Was Killed

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he believes multiple reports claiming the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during the U.S. and Israeli offensive against the Islamic Republic are likely true, though he stopped short of confirming the news.

“We have a feeling that the information is correct,” he said, according to NBC News. “I don’t want to say anything definitive until I see it, but we think that’s the case. And many of their leaders have disappeared,” he added.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there were “many indications” that Khamenei had died in an attack on his residential compound.