Hurricane Beryl struck Jamaica on Wednesday and left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean before moving through the Cayman Islands on Thursday, killing at least seven people, destroying homes and snapping trees in half.
The storm first struck Cariac-Ou, a small island off Grenada, on Monday morning, destroying the island in just 30 minutes and also causing extensive damage to the neighbouring island of Petite Martinique.
Carriacou is famous for its coral reefs and diving, while the people of Petite Martinique are mostly engaged in fishing and boat building. The population of the two islands combined is at least 9,000.
The storm was an anomaly in an unusually busy storm season that stretched through late November. When it developed into a Category 4 storm on Sunday, it was the third major hurricane to form in the Atlantic in June and the first Category 4 so early in the season.
The storm continues to break records, becoming the first Atlantic storm to reach Category 5 status this season, according to Philip Klotzbach, a meteorologist specializing in tropical cyclones at Colorado State University.
The rapid intensification of the storm was a direct result of above-average sea surface temperatures and was also a sign of what to expect this hurricane season. Hurricanes that intensify faster can be more dangerous because they give people in areas expected to be affected less time to prepare and evacuate.
