Billings resident hunkers down in Grenada as historic Hurricane Beryl hits

Roaring through the Windward Islands, Hurricane Beryl is making history as the earliest hurricane of the season to pass through that region of the Caribbean.

“I believe it was Thursday, and it started off as a tropical storm. I didn't think anything of it. I'm originally from Florida, so this certainly isn't my first rodeo with hurricanes at all. I thought nothing of it. I thought it would pass, or it would continue to just be a tropical storm,” Billings resident Eva Stanmeyer said Monday on a video call. “I had no idea it would develop into anything like this.”

Stanmeyer is taking a long vacation to visit friends who live in Grenada. She first heard about the tropical storm late last week, but it took only 42 hours for the winds to intensify. By Sunday, the storm had strengthened to a category 3 hurricane. On Monday morning, it made landfall as a category 4 hurricane.

Eva Stanmeyer

“I originally was staying at a little villa right by the ocean when I came here. I've been here for two weeks,” Stanmeyer said.

Stanmeyer was able to move inland Sunday morning, grabbing water and food on the way. But the island is small, only 21 miles long and 12 miles wide, making it hard to escape.

“No water. The water was turned off mandatory last night at 9 o'clock. There was a curfew set in place at 7 p.m. last night. The only people that can drive or really do anything here are just first responders, police, and whatnot. They have roads blocked,” Stanmeyer said. “There's just a lot of high wind, a lot of rain. My room is flooded currently. There's probably about two inches of water in here.”

Stanmeyer hopes to fly out from the island on Wednesday and land back in Billings on the Fourth of July. As of Monday, she hadn't received any news on if her flight was delayed.

“Pray for everybody. All the people of Grenada, all the local people, those that aren't local, just everybody, you know, on the islands, all the islands here in the Caribbean that are certainly being affected, you know,” she said.