Carriacou hammered | Local news

Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell expects the damage caused by Hurricane Beryl on the island of Carriacou to be “extreme” as the eye of the hurricane made landfall yesterday.

“As soon as it is safe to do so, I will travel to Carriacou to assess the damage and provide a full report to the nation,” Mitchell said, adding that while the eye of the hurricane has not passed Grenada, “we are experiencing high winds, storm surge and continued heavy rainfall over the next few hours.”

Earlier, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami reported that Hurricane Beryl, packing sustained winds of up to 225 kilometers per hour (mph), had made landfall in Carriacou.

“Satellite imagery and radar data from Barbados indicate that the eye of Beryl made landfall on the island of Carriacou at 11:10 a.m. (local time),” the NHC said in a brief, urgently updated statement.

“Data from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that Beryl’s maximum sustained winds have increased to 150 mph (240 km/h),” the report said.

Mitchell said in his statement: “It has been a long morning and perhaps an even longer morning for our brothers and sisters in Carriacou and Petite Martinique who are bearing the brunt of Hurricane Beryl,” adding: “It is a very powerful hurricane, almost bordering on Category 5.

“The damage in Carriacou and Petite Martinique is expected to be extreme,” Mitchell said. The Minister for Carriacou and Petite Martinique, Kevin Andrew, has already indicated that there is devastation everywhere, he said.

“We therefore expect that we will need to move quickly to a mode of damage assessment, recovery and stabilization. We have already started to review our plans to ensure that we can respond as quickly as possible to the needs of our brothers and sisters in Carriacou and Petite Martinique.

“We have reports of a huge storm surge, reports of major roof loss and damage to buildings, and there is no electricity on any of the islands and communications are difficult,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said that because of rough seas and “the eye of the hurricane that just passed over Carriacou, we expect to have three to four more hours of high winds and even more extensive damage.

“Under these circumstances, we must continue to shelter, pray for our brothers and sisters in Carriacou and Petite Martinique and we certainly hope that the hurricane will pass quickly so that we will hopefully have the opportunity late in the evening to start assessing the damage and starting the recovery work.

“We will be working closely with our regional partners to ensure that we can do that. We anticipate that Union Island will also bear the brunt of the storm,” Mitchell said, adding that he has been in contact with the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves.

“He will keep the region updated on Union Island, but we will have a coordinated response as these are all Grenadine Islands to ensure that our brothers and sisters in the Grenadines are well served.

“I have already instructed the Housing Authority to provide the citizens of Carriacou and Petite Martinique with affordable housing built by the Chinese, so that if necessary, anyone without a roof over their head can have immediate access to the site for temporary housing.”

Recovery attempts

Mitchell said instructions have also been given to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Petite Martinique and Carriacou Affairs to identify local suppliers in the Grenadine Islands with supplies on hand, including water and canned food, “to make these available immediately so that we can carry out the rescue operations as quickly as possible.

“So the warnings, the advisories remain in effect. We have multiple reports of damage to buildings, multiple reports of roofs blown off, including the Central Police Station,” he said, adding that the roof of one of the hospitals was also damaged.

“It is not just Carriacou that is sustaining significant damage, parts of Grenada are also suffering. So we urge you to stay safe… and our citizens in shelters, we ask you to be patient with us. It is not safe at this time to send people out… to assist you.

“We are praying and optimistic that by late evening it will be safe to send aid to you,” he said, adding: “We will maintain the state of emergency in accordance with emergency regulations.

“We will attempt to assess the damage as quickly as possible… and as soon as we are able to do so, we will update the nation,” Mitchell added. —CMC