WeatherSunshine.com - Articles - Hurricane Beryl left enormous damage in its wake

Hurricane Beryl left enormous damage in its wake

9/12/24

Meteorologists fear that this year's Atlantic hurricane season will be unusually strong. During it over two dozen tornadoes could form causing tens of billions of dollars in damage. That the predictions can be fulfilled was confirmed by the recent rampage of Hurricane Beryl which devastated several islands in the Caribbean in its long path, from where it moved to the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula and then continued to the Texas coast.

Photo:Pixabay

Hurricane Beryl has been barreling through the Atlantic for more than a week gaining strength thanks to warm waters to become the first Category 5 hurricane this year. Its destructive power was fully manifested when it came into contact with Barbados and Jamaica. The islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines were also significantly damaged.

Another clash followed as Hurricane Beryl approached the Yucatan Peninsula and continued to strengthen instead of weakening as expected. Then nothing stood in his way and he struck the Texas coast with tremendous force. Shortly thereafter hundreds of thousands of households found themselves without electricity.

The hurricane began to weaken after making landfall in Texas before being reclassified as a Category 1 hurricane. Strong winds uprooted trees and power lines and heavy rain soon caused flash flooding. In total, around three million Texas residents dependent on air conditioners were without power as Texas is also plagued by a heat wave. Altogether Hurricane Beryl claimed nearly two dozen lives.

A few days after the rampage of Hurricane Beryl it is certain that it did the most damage in the Caribbean. He decimated several cities and smaller islands here. The wind tore roofs off houses and tossed smaller boats on the beach. In the capital of Jamaica Kingston the local arena briefly turned into a giant shelter where several thousand residents took refuge.

The damage left by Hurricane Beryl has not yet been quantified but it is already clear that it will run into the billions and that some islands and coastal areas will take months to recover from.

The fact that Hurricane Beryl broke the 19-year-old wind speed record is also a warning sign for meteorologists. At its peak the hurricane was accompanied by winds blowing at a speed of 265 kilometers per hour. The strongest hurricanes usually do not occur until the end of the hurricane season, so there is a risk that we will encounter similarly strong storms more often this year which is what many experts and scientists agree on.