Hurricane Beryl, a Category 4 storm, forecast to lash Jamaica

Hurricane Beryl was tearing through the Caribbean on Tuesday as a powerful Category 4 storm Tuesday. After destroying homes and businesses across the southeastern Caribbean on Monday, it is now forecast to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge to Jamaica.

Beryl was forecast to start losing intensity on Tuesday but still be near major hurricane strength when it passes near or over Jamaica early Wednesday, near the Cayman Islands on Thursday and into Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center .

"Weakening is forecast later today, but Beryl is still expected to be near major hurricane intensity as it moves into the central Caribbean," the hurricane center said . "... Additional weakening is expected thereafter, though Beryl is forecast to remain a hurricane in the northwestern Caribbean."

What category is Hurricane Beryl?

Beryl made landfall on the island of Carriacou in Grenada on Monday as the earliest Category 4 storm in the Atlantic, then late in the day the center said its winds had increased to Category 5 strength, meaning it had winds of 157 mph or higher. As of Tuesday afternoon, Beryl was a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 155 mph, the center said.

In Miami, National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said Jamaica appears to be in the direct path of Beryl.

"We are most concerned about Jamaica, where we are expecting the core of a major hurricane to pass near or over the island," he said in an online briefing. "You want to be in a safe place where you can ride out the storm by nightfall (Tuesday). Be prepared to stay in that location through Wednesday."

Beryl was the earliest Category 5 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin and was only the second Category 5 storm recorded in July since 2005, according to the hurricane center.

Three people were reported killed in Grenada and Carriacou and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said. Two other deaths were reported in northern Venezuela, where five people are missing, officials said. One fatality in Grenada occurred after a tree fell on a house, Kerryne James, minister of climate resilience, environment and renewable energy, told The Associated Press.

Streets from St. Lucia island south to Grenada were strewn with shoes, trees, downed power lines and other debris. Banana trees were snapped in half and cows lay dead in green pastures with homes made of tin and plywood tilting precariously nearby.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Beryl was about 175 miles southeast of Isla Beata in the Dominican Republic and 485 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. It was moving west-northwest at 22 mph.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and a hurricane watch was posted for the southern coast of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Anse d'Hainault. A tropical storm warning was in place for the southern coast of the Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque westward to the border with Haiti and the southern coast of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Anse d'Hainault.

"Remain in place through the passage of these life-threatening conditions and do not venture out in the eye of the storm," the hurricane center warned people in the storm's path.

Historic hurricane

It took Beryl only 42 hours to strengthen from a tropical depression to a major hurricane — a feat accomplished only six other times in Atlantic hurricane history, and with Sept. 1 as the earliest date, according to hurricane expert Sam Lillo.

Beryl became the third Category 3 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic in June, following Audrey in 1957 and Alma in 1966, hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry said.

"Beryl is an extremely dangerous and rare hurricane for this time of year in this area," he told the AP in a phone interview earlier this week. "Unusual is an understatement," he said, calling Beryl historic.

Hurricane Ivan in 2004 was the last strongest hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean, causing catastrophic damage in Grenada as a Category 3 storm.

"So this is a serious threat, a very serious threat," Lowry said of Beryl.

Beryl is the second named storm in what is predicted to be a busy hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 in the Atlantic. Last week, Tropical Storm Alberto brought torrential flooding to portions of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. It was responsible for at least four deaths in the Mexican states of Nuevo Leon and Veracruz.

According to CBS News weather producer David Parkinson, Beryl is the farthest east a hurricane has formed in June, and one of only two to do so east of the Caribbean, with the other instance occurring in 1933. Parkinson expects Beryl to remain south of Jamaica, and forecasts that any U.S. impacts are still at least eight days away.

Warm waters are fueling Beryl, with ocean heat content in the deep Atlantic the highest on record for this time of year, according to Brian McNoldy, University of Miami tropical meteorology researcher.

Forecasters warned of a life-threatening storm surge of up to 9 feet in areas where Beryl will make landfall, with up to 6 inches of rain for Barbados and nearby islands.