On June 28th, 2024, Hurricane Beryl, a Category 5 Hurricane, was formed near the Main Development Region, describing an area located at 10-20° N and 20-60° W in the North Atlantic Ocean. This area is prone to hurricane development, with many dangerous hurricanes in the past, such as Hurricane Irma, Dorian, and Matthew forming here. Hurricane Beryl quickly took a turn towards severity from a Tropical Depression to a Category 4 Hurricane, signaling its possibility for severe destruction and disaster.
On July 1st, 2024, Hurricane Beryl made landfall on Carriacou Island in Grenada as a Category 4 Hurricane, nearly about to reach Category 5 categorization. Winds were as strong as 150 mph, eventually reaching 165 mph the next day when it was classified as a Category 5 Hurricane. The Windward Islands, consisting of many small islands such as Tobago, Barbados, Saint Vincent, and Saint Lucia, were the most affected, putting the countries into an emergency response. In fact, the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup had just occurred days before on June 29th in Barbados. Many fans and the Indian Cricket Team were stranded due to the hurricane’s approach. The hurricane made its approach through the Caribbean Islands, then hitting south of Jamaica before progressing towards Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. By this point, the hurricane’s intensity had lowered a little bit, but had caused 11 deaths in the Caribbean alone.
On July 5th, Beryl made landfall near Tulum, Mexico, an area very close to Cancún, an area normally with tourists and busy resorts. At this point, the hurricane had reached a Category 2 categorization with winds as high as 110 mph. As Beryl raged inland, it had been downgraded to a tropical storm. However, soon enough, Beryl reached the Gulf of Mexico, being reclassified back into a Category 1 Hurricane. On July 8th, Beryl made landfall in Matagorda, Texas, 100 miles away from Houston, as a Category 1 Hurricane with winds around 90 mph. Power outages plagued the Texas Coast, with almost 2.7 million homes and businesses were left without power for days. The strong winds caused a high degree of damage, knocking down trees and power lines. Tornadoes, flooding, and severe thunderstorms were all a result of Beryl’s landfall.
The damage caused by the hurricane was severe. Almost $6.2 million USD is said to have been lost in damage, there were 50 fatalities, with 22 of them being from the Houston area, and 6 people still missing from the hurricane. The range of countries and areas affected is massive, and the recovery efforts will certainly take a lot of effort and time.
Beryl brings to attention the main idea of climate change, something climate experts have been emphasizing for years and years. Beryl is only one of the very few hurricanes formed as a Category 5 in June, with its rapid progression to Category 4 being the earliest in history. The extremely strong winds, reaching as high as 165 miles per hour, numerous tornadoes, flooding, and precipitation brings to light the way our planet is quickly changing and how steps must be taken soon to ease the rapidly rising temperature of planet Earth. Beryl’s destruction serves as a warning for all of us to realize that conditions could become much worse in the future if nothing is done to stop climate change soon.
