Desrine Campbell’s Almost Flooding Story on Old Harbour Bay: A Hurricane Victim in St. Vincent and Grenadines
Desrine Campbell is a resident of Old Harbour Bay, a low lying area, who wailed while in a shelter, “My house is almost flooded!”
Sixty percent of the island remained without electricity, along with a lack of water and limited telecommunications. The damage assessment was hampered by the lack of communication in southern parishes that experienced the most damage.
A woman died after a house collapsed on her and a young man died after being swept into a storm water drain while trying to retrieve a ball, according to Jamaican authorities.
98% of homes on a pair of islands in St.Vincent and Grenadines have been damaged or destroyed over the last few days.
Velázquez said temporary storm shelters were in place at schools and hotels but efforts to evacuate a few highly exposed villages — like Punta Allen, which sits on a narrow spit of land south of Tulum — and Mahahual, further south — had been only partially successful.
The early development of a Category 5 Hurricane in the Atlantic was the cause of 11 deaths as Beryl passed through the Caribbean islands earlier in the week. It was a Category 2 storm when it hit Mexico but caused no injuries or deaths before it weakened to a tropical storm and moved across the peninsula.
The Tropical Tropical Cyclosmic Event on Saturday, July 10, 2013: Myriam Setra woke up and left her sandwich on the beach
The last of the sun was expected to fall on the beach Thursday, and Myriam Setra was having a sandwich on it. It is going to be hunkered down and just stay indoors until it passes.
The tourists were wearing safety gear. When she woke up this morning, Marsters said she put the empty water bottles in the freezer so they could use it to flush the toilet.
“We’ve cut the gas and electricity. We also have an emergency floor where two maintenance employees will be locking down,” he said from the hotel. “We have them staying in the room farthest from the beach and windows.”
Francisco Bencomo, General manager of Hotel Umi in Tulum said all of their guests had left. He said that guests will not be allowed back before July 10th, because of the conditions.
In Playa del Carmen, most businesses were closed Thursday and some were boarding up windows as tourists jogged by and some locals walked their dogs under sunny skies. Authorities shut down and evacuated hotels in Tulum.
Mexico prepared shelters, evacuated some small coastal communities and moved sea turtle eggs off the beaches that were threatened by storm surge.
Four wheelers with megaphones went along the sand to tell people to leave as the wind started to blow. There were tourists taking photos of the growing surf, but they were told to leave as the storm headed to the coast.
The storm’s center was about 135 miles (220 kilometers) east-southeast of Tulum, Mexico, and was moving west-northwest at 16 mph (about 26 kph), the hurricane center said.
The storm knocked out power but spared the residents of serious damage. It strengthened back into a Category 3 storm later that day as it churned toward Mexico, but weakened before making landfall.
The Cayman Islands Preceded by a Tropical Tropical Storm: Hurricanes Beryl, Golding, and the Premier Juliana O’Connor
“No hesitating. There are things that can be recovered. The most important thing is life,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
According to a statement issued by the President, Beryl may make a direct hit on Tulum, which still holds thousands of tourists and residents.
The US National Hurricane Center reported that the early Category 5 storm, which had winds of 115 mph (185 kph), had weakened to a tropical storm.
Nearby, Carlton Golding said ruefully, “I lost everything this time.” Golding’s house was totally destroyed by the hurricane, the second time that he has suffered damage from storms.
In the south-central parish of Clarendon, residents attempted to mend damaged roofs and clear downed trees. Many roadways in the area remained partially blocked from downed electricity and telecommunication poles.
The premier of the Cayman Islands, Juliana O’Connor, thanked residents and visitors Thursday for contributing to the “collective calm” ahead of Beryl by following storm protocols.
In Mayreau and Union Island, about 98% of homes have been damaged in the recent hurricanes.
There were at least three confirmed deaths in Grenada and Carriacou, one each in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and northern Venezuela, where people remain missing after floods triggered by heavy rain.
Destructions of Union Island, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines following a Hurricane and Making Landfall in Mexico, with its sights set on Texas next
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said that a storm had formed in the Pacific off of Mexico. The system was expected to move away from the area and out of sight by the weekend.
The United Nations is making $4 million in emergency relief funds available to Grenada, Jamaica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Humanitarian aid groups are helping people in the Caribbean.
The damage to Union is so bad, the Prime Minister said in a video from a helicopter. “It’s only the odd building that is not severely damaged or destroyed.”
In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Union Island — some 3 miles long and 1 mile wide, and home to about 3,000 residents — saw about 98% of its buildings damaged or destroyed, including its hospital and airport control tower.
The mangroves are completely destroyed on the island of Carriacou, and the boats and the marina are damaged, according to USA Today. “There is almost complete destruction of the electrical grid system in Carriacou. The entire communication system is completely destroyed.”
The destruction of buildings and agriculture on Carriacou and Petite Martinique was described as “almost Armageddon-like” by Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell.
The impact of the Barbados-Saturated Category 4 Tropical Storm on the south coast of the U.S., Jamaica, and Mexico
It battered the coast of Barbados, destroying or damaging some 200 fishing vessels, before continuing on to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada as a Category 4 storm on its way to Jamaica and Mexico.
“As Texans and visitors around the south coastal areas begin to celebrate our nation’s Independence Day, I urge them to make an emergency plan, review hurricane evacuation routes, and continue to monitor weather conditions to ensure the safety of themselves and their loved ones,” Abbott said Thursday.
Some Texas coastal cities called for voluntary evacuations in low-lying areas prone to flooding, banned beach camping and urged tourists traveling on the July 4 holiday weekend to move recreational vehicles from coastal parks. It took just two hours for the city of Nueces Christi to distribute 10,000 sandbags.
Even as the center of the storm is hundreds of miles away, officials in the state and local area are starting to take precautions.
“It’s going to take days, even weeks, possibly, to be able to get parts of this country back on its feet,” he said. Montego Bay and Kingston are the big cities that will probably get power first. It is going to take a long time in the rural communities.
Nick Davis is a journalist who lives in Kingston and spoke to All Things Considered from the city on Thursday.
Tropical Rain and Winds on the Yucatan Peninsula after a Tropical Cycloclosing on Sunday. The impact of the Large-Scale Hurricane Eduardo Buenaje
It is considered a popular vacation destination because of its beaches and ruins. Some 3,000 tourists were evacuated from Isla Mujeres back to the mainland on Thursday, according to Reuters, which also reports that at least 100 flights out of Cancun’s international airport were canceled that day.
The center warned that there was an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and damaging winds late Sunday and Monday in northeastern Mexico.
Texas officials told all the state’s coastline to be prepared for flooding, heavy rain and wind as they wait for a more defined path of the storm. On Friday, the hurricane center issued hurricane and storm surge watches for the Texas coast from the mouth of the Rio Grande north to San Luis Pass, less than 80 miles (128.75 kilometers) south of Houston.
Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick issued a disaster declaration for 40 counties, when Gov. Greg Abbott was in Taiwan.
Mexican authorities had moved some tourists and residents out of low-lying areas around the Yucatan Peninsula before landfall, but tens of thousands remained to tough out the strong winds and storm surge. A few yards above sea level is all that’s left of the area around Tulum.
The city was plunged into darkness when the storm knocked out power as it came ashore. Cars in the town started to audibly alarm as a result of the Scruching winds. There was a lot of rain and wind in the area Friday morning. The army roved the city to clear fallen trees.
Although no dead or wounded have been reported, nearly half of Tulum continued to be without electricity, said Laura Velázquez, national coordinator of Mexican Civil Protection.
While many in the Yucatan Peninsula took a deep breath, Jamaica and other islands ravaged by the hurricane were still reeling. After his visit to the southern part of the island, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness promised swift relief for residents.