Barbados Hurricane "Beryl" passes the Cayman Islands after Jamaica

The powerful hurricane "Beryl" has wreaked havoc on Jamaica and is now passing the Cayman Islands.

With sustained wind speeds of up to 195 kilometers per hour, it has now weakened somewhat and has been downgraded to a category 3 hurricane, according to the US hurricane center NHC. Nevertheless, strong winds and rain and a dangerous storm surge are to be expected on the Cayman Islands. According to forecasts, "Beryl" will pass over Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula on Friday morning (local time) - further weakened, but still as a hurricane.

On Jamaica, whose southern coast the storm center grazed from Wednesday evening, the authorities continue to warn of possible flash floods. In the northwest of the island, a woman died after a tree fell on her house, a spokeswoman for the disaster control department told US broadcaster CNN. Agriculture Minister Floyd Green wrote on Platform X that the southwestern district of St. Elizabeth, for which he sits in parliament, had been hit hard: "A significant number of roofs have been lost, houses destroyed, trees uprooted, light poles toppled, almost all roads are impassable."

Earliest hurricane this strong

"Beryl", the first hurricane of the season in the Atlantic since June, quickly developed into a category 4 hurricane last weekend and made landfall for the first time on Monday. It devastated several small islands belonging to the states of Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines and made itself felt in other countries. In total, at least eight people lost their lives.

Never before had such a strong storm been recorded so early in the Atlantic hurricane season, which lasts six months. In the meantime, the NHC measured wind speeds of around 270 kilometers per hour - from 252, the highest category 5 is reached. Warmer ocean waters are making strong hurricanes more likely as a result of climate change.