Local residents put boards on store windows to protect them, and others bought food stocks and refueled their cars as the storm approached.
Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, said he expected a natural disaster that could last a few days.
This is a much stronger than usual start to this year’s Atlantic hurricane season.
Data from the US National Hurricane Center showed that Beryl on Sunday became the first hurricane on record to reach Category 4 at this time of year.
The center said Beryl weakened earlier Monday to a Category 3 storm before strengthening again to a Category 4 on a five-level scale with maximum sustained winds exceeding 193 km/h (120 mph), with some higher gusts, about 180 km (112 miles) southeast of Barbados.
The center added that the hurricane is likely to bring catastrophic winds and storm surges early Tuesday to the Windward Islands.
“Beryl is expected to remain an extremely dangerous mega-hurricane as its center moves across the Windward Islands into the eastern Caribbean,” the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory warning note.
He advised those in the path of the storm to follow authorities’ advice on evacuations and preparedness.
Hurricane warnings have already been issued for Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Tobago. A tropical storm warning was issued for Martinique and Trinidad, with a potential storm warning issued for parts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Authorities said Tobago opened shelters, closed schools on Monday and cancelled non-essential surgeries at hospitals.
The hurricane is expected to cause between 8 and 15 centimeters of rain across Barbados and the Windward Islands throughout the day on Monday, which the US National Hurricane Center warned will cause flooding in vulnerable areas.
High and dangerous waves are also expected to hit the southern coast of Puerto RicoHispaniola.
Last May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administratio
n in the United States predicted exceptional hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean in 2024, amid what is likely to be a record rise in ocean temperatures.
According to data from the US National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Dennis reached Category 4 status on July 8, 2005, making it the second-earliest hurricane on record after Beryl, which reached that category earlier than Dennis in the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June to November.
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