Hurricane Beryl remains at Category 5 as it roars toward Jamaica: Live updates

After damaging hundreds of buildings and knocking out power across the southern Windward Islands, Hurricane Beryl strengthened overnight as it pushed further into the Caribbean Sea, keeping Jamaica in its sights and triggering warnings across Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Cayman Islands.

Hurricane Beryl ’s escalation to Category 5 status late Monday – with sustained winds of 165 mph and higher gusts – also did nothing to allay the fears of nervous U.S. Gulf Coast residents who watched the storm with trepidation.  Beryl became the earliest Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic basin and only the second to occur in July.

Beryl made landfall on Carriacou Island in Grenada on Monday with 150 mph winds, causing at least one death and laying waste to entire communities across the Grenadines and St. Vincent. The storm then experienced restrengthening as it emerged into the Caribbean Sea. Beryl will remain a powerful hurricane as it moves on a westward path this week, through it's expected to weaken in intensity as it's impacted by increasing wind shear.

More: Hurricane Beryl in photos: See the damage as Category 4 storm moves through Caribbean

On Wednesday, Beryl is "expected to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge to Jamaica," according to the National Hurricane Center . The storm is forecast to pass near the Cayman Islands on Thursday.

As Beryl passes over or near Jamaica on Wednesday, its winds are forecast to decrease to 110 mph, just under Category 3 status. That’s still dangerous winds and the hurricane center is forecasting devastating rain of 4 to 8 inches, flash flooding and up to 12 inches of rain in isolated locations on Jamaica.

Elsewhere, residents and visitors in the Cayman Islands, Belize, the Yucatan Peninsula, and the Gulf are advised to closely monitor Beryl's path. It is expected to be downgraded to a tropical storm by Thursday evening.

Developments:

∎ Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados announced it is resuming operations after it closed on Sunday before Hurricane Beryl caused considerable damage across the island.

∎ Jamaica's government has issued a hurricane warning for the country, while tropical storm warnings were in effect for parts of the southern coasts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Tropical storm conditions are expected in the warning area along the south coast of Hispaniola by late Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center said.

∎ Storm surge in Jamaica could reach up to 3 to 5 feet above normal tide levels in "areas of onshore winds along the immediate coast," according to the hurricane center. Water levels were also forecast to rise to 1 to 3 feet above ground level along the southern coast of Hispaniola.

∎ Forecasters said parts of Hispaniola may receive 2 to 6 inches of rain from the outer bands of Beryl.

Hurricane Beryl path

As of 8 a.m. local time, Beryl was located 300 miles southeast of the Dominican Republic and 625 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. According to the NHC, Beryl is currently moving west-northwest at 22 mph and is forecast to continue moving that direction in the next couple of days before turning westward Thursday.

Beryl is expected to begin weakening Tuesday, but the NHC says it will still be "near major hurricane intensity" as it passes Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Additional weakening is expected thereafter, the NHC says, though Beryl is expected to remain a hurricane in the northwestern Caribbean.

Beryl is expected to approach the Yucatan Peninsula late this week before emerging over the Gulf of Mexico.

Will Hurricane Beryl hit Texas, the US Gulf Coast?

As Hurricane Beryl heads across the Caribbean Sea after tearing through the Windward Islands, its possible impacts on the U.S. and Gulf Coast is unclear as there's little consensus on what the storm will do once it reaches the Gulf of Mexico.

AccuWeather hurricane experts said they expected the U.S. will avoid direct impacts from the Beryl but residents "should not let their guard down."

"At this point, the most likely scenario is for the storm to move westward into Mexico," said AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Forecaster Alex DaSilva. "However, it is very important to note that if the high pressure across the Southeast weakens, that can allow the storm to move farther north and potentially directly impact the Gulf Coast."

The National Weather Service office in Houston wrote Monday night "We are still not anticipating any impacts from Beryl to Southeast Texas," adding that "it will be something worth monitoring" since most models put it in the Bay of Campeche by the end of the work week.

Confidence in Hurricane Beryl projection cone is 'rather low'

It’s still too soon to say where the storm will wind up this weekend. The models used to forecast track have a wide spread of potential outcomes, and the forecast confidence in the official track is "rather low," Philippe Papin, one of the National Hurricane Center’s hurricane specialists, wrote in Monday night’s forecast.

That includes uncertainty about what Beryl’s structure and intensity will look like as it approaches or crosses the Yucatan but conditions in the Gulf of Mexico do not appear "especially favorable" for restrengthening if Beryl moves back out over the Gulf, Papin wrote.

The key question will be how strong the ridge of high pressure remains over the Gulf and whether it contracts to the east and gives Beryl a potential pathway for turning in a more northerly direction, National Weather Service forecasters said Monday. There's certainly no consensus in the computer models used to forecast track but a few of the projections hinted Monday at a possible northwestward turn in Beryl’s track that could point it toward the U.S. Gulf Coast by the weekend.

Hurricane Beryl kills at least 1 person; flattens island

Officials reported devastating damage across the southern Windward Islands after Hurricane Beryl ripped across the region on Monday.

The worst damage seems to have been in Carriacou, a island in Grenada where Beryl made landfall. Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said in a news conference that the island "was flattened" in just 30 minutes and that authorities received "Widespread reports of destruction and devastation in Carriacou and Petite Martinique."

At least one death was reported in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said late Monday. “There may well be more fatalities, we are not yet sure,” he added. Gonsalves noted that hundreds of homes and buildings were destroyed and damaged.

Fierce winds ripped the roofs off buildings and knocked out power across the St. Vincent community of Prospect. Other parts of the island of Grenada were plunged into the dark as well.

In Barbados, authorities gave the "all clear" after intense weather conditions from the passing hurricane subsided on Monday. While there was "considerable damage" to homes, buildings and boats throughout Barbados, no one was badly injured, Wilfred Abrahams, minister of home affairs and information, said at a news conference.

Meanwhile, at a restaurant in Kingston, Jamaica, waiter Welton Anderson told Reuters he felt calm despite the hurricane's approach.

"Jamaicans wait until the last minute. The night before or in the morning the panic sets in. It's because we're used to this," he said.

'A massive warning sign': Record-smashing Hurricane Beryl may be an 'ominous' sign of what's to come

What is the 2024 hurricane season forecast?

Beryl has surprised forecasters almost since it formed, including rocketing from a tropical depression to a major hurricane in about 48 hours, and then in strengthening to a Category 5 storm. It was fueled by much warmer than normal ocean temperatures in the Atlantic and aided in that development by light winds that allowed it to build a strong inner core.

Forecasters fear it could be a scary sign of things to come in what has been projected to be a very busy season for tropical storms and hurricanes. Federal forecasters have predicted a hurricane season unlike any other , with as many as 25 named storms possible.

It is the most storms the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has ever predicted in a preseason outlook. "All the ingredients are in place for an active season," National Weather Service director Ken Graham said in May.

NOAA director Rick Spinrad said the Atlantic hurricane season is shaping up to be "extraordinary" − an 85% chance for an above-average year. "The forecast … is the highest NOAA has ever issued for the May outlook," he said.

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Beryl remains at Category 5 as it roars toward Jamaica: Live updates