Beryl barrels down on Jamaica

Note: This story was compiled from multiple news sources, and we are reaching out to the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association for more details.

CARIBBEAN - Category 4 Hurricane Beryl is expected to hit Jamaica’s shoreline around midday Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center. It would be only the third hurricane to make landfall on the island in 40 years and has been declared the strongest-ever hurricane in July.

Beryl had 145 mph winds early Wednesday morning and is forecast to weaken over the next two days with its next target being the Cayman Islands on Wednesday night.

Jamaica is expected to see life-threatening impacts with a storm surge as much as 6 to 9 feet above normal tide levels, flash flooding and mudslides from heavy rainfall totals 4 to 8 inches, with localized amounts of 12 inches.

Hurricane warnings are in effect for Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. Beryl is also impacting southern Hispaniola with tropical storm-force winds, up to 3 feet of storm surge and heavy rain.

At this writing, there were no reports of hotel damage from the storm. Hotel Investment Today has reached out to the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association for updates.

Hotel Investment Today spoke to Sandals Resorts Chief Communication & Strategy Officer Maggie Rivera on Tuesday, who said their guests in Saint Lucia, Barbados, Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are “safe, in great spirits and enjoying the resorts.”

She said Sandals resorts in Jamaica are full and believed the airport is closed. “Guest safety remains our number one priority. As the storm continues to move through the Caribbean, we are monitoring the situation and are ensuring that all appropriate preparations are taken as a precaution at all of our resorts in Jamaica. We remain in close contact with our guests and will continue to update key industry partners and things develop.”

Rivera added that the Sandals operations team and each local resort team remain in close communication and follow all developing weather events, reviewing the latest information and recommendations from authorities and evolving our plans as necessary. “Each resort has a long-established set of protocols to not only monitor and prepare for weather incidents, but also quickly implement a series of escalating actions and safety measures depending on the nature of the storm,” Rivera said. “After more than 43 years of operating across the Caribbean, natural events including hurricanes are something that we have a great deal of experience with and we plan for them as early as the design and build stage of each resort property and its structures and amenities, and our teams are well trained.”

A hurricane watch and tropical storm warning is also in effect for the south coast of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Anse d’Hainault.

A hurricane watch is in effect for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from Chetumal to Cabo Catoche and a tropical storm watch for the coast of Belize from south of Chetumal to Belize City.

So far, at least seven people in Grenada, Venezuela and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have died in the hurricane. It made landfall as a Category 4 on Monday on Grenada’s Carriacou island, which was “flattened” in an hour, according to Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell.