‘An impending disaster.’ As Beryl barrels toward Jamaica, South Florida prepares to help

As deadly Hurricane Beryl barreled west toward Jamaica, the Caribbean nation went into high alert Tuesday with government offices closing early, and visitors and college students rushing to fly out.

With a trail of destruction and at least four deaths in its wake, Category 4 Beryl was shaping up as the strongest hurricane to hit Jamaica since Ivan 20 years ago. That Category 5 storm passed just to the south, killing 17 people, leaving nearly 20,000 homeless and causing hundreds of millions in damage. On the latest forecast track, Beryl, though potentially weakening, could make a direct hit sometime Wednesday and the government was urging residents to take no chances.

“We have an impending disaster and we have to treat it with the seriousness that it requires,” Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said Monday as he offered assistance to fellow Caribbean leaders on islands already devastated by Beryl’s passing.

While islanders were being urged to prepare, volunteers in South Florida — home to some 300,000 Jamaicans, the second-largest population in the United States — were already packing boxes of canned goods, dry food and hygiene products to ship on relief missions. The warehouse facilities of the nonprofit Global Empowerment Mission served as the backdrop of a Tuesday press conference, where a coalition of Caribbean consuls gathered.

The group, headed by Jamaican Consul General Oliver Mair, was focused on damage across the Caribbean, calling for resources and aid on behalf of Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and other island-nations in the deadly storm’s path. He said that Holness had put the entire nation of Jamaica on alert, and that there were already efforts to source materials like tarps, cots, first aid kits, and other emergency supplies that will be needed after Beryl’s rains and winds pass.

“This is a regular occurrence for us. Almost every year we have a hurricane threat. So we know this dance very well. But the need still remains,” said Mair. “And though the preparations are strong, part of the preparation here is actually getting the community ready to support the vulnerable back home.”

‘Rally, rally ‘round the West Indies’

Mair was joined by the Consul Generals of Barbados, the Bahamas and St. Lucia, and representatives from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as community advocates of the Caribbean diaspora. Consuls at the press conference highlighted the solidarity among the islands of the region, which live through cycles of destruction every hurricane season.

Mair wore a tie with the yellow, black and green colors of the Jamaican flag, as well as a handkerchief with the colors of other Caribbean islands.

“There is a famous song that says ‘Rally, rally ‘round the West Indies,’ and that’s what we’re doing here,” said Mair.

Though it will take days to do damage surveys, the picture in Beryl’s wake was catastrophic. There was not a roof left in Carriacou, Grenada’s Deputy Vice Consul Dianne Perrotte said about her nation’s sister-island, while adding that no contact had yet been made with Petite Martinique as of Tuesday morning. Relief supplies from Guyana, including generators, water purification tablets, and hygiene items have arrived to Grenada.

“Because they haven’t been able to make a full assessment, we can’t give a full list of things that are needed at the moment,” Perrotte said, adding that mattresses, tarpaulins, blankets, food items and sleeping bags are among the immediate necessities.

She emphasized that while help is needed, those interested in helping should wait for further information about what’s needed so the aid is distributed as efficiently as possible. Authorities in Grenada on Tuesday also stressed the need for order in the response, and emphasized working with the disaster response office to coordinate relief efforts.

“We need help, but we need to know the assessments first. I don’t want anybody to start collecting stuff, and then you don’t know how you are getting it to Grenada,” Perrotte said.

Michael Capponi, who first gained fame in South Florida developing South Beach’s night life before expanding into humanitarian efforts, said he anticipates given the loss of so many homes, the need for shingles and other roof-building materials. He called on South Florida and U.S.-based lumber and roofing companies to consider donating these types of supplies.

“People can’t stay throughout hurricane season in these rains in houses with no roof,” said Capponi, the founder of GEM, who recalled after Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas, his group was able to report 120 roofs from one donor alone.

Marlon Hill, a Kingston-born attorney and co-founder of South Florida Caribbean Strong Relief Fund, said the region has been hard-hit by Beryl, the first storm ever recorded to reach Category 4 strength this early in the hurricane season, which began on June 1.

“We are here to call on anyone in earshot that can hear us across the world that we are presently in dire need to support the impacted islands,” said Hill.

Caribbean governments are still tallying up the damage created by Beryl. Rudy Grant, the consul general of Barbados to Miami, said an initial assessment of his showed no loss of life but the storm sank at least 50 vessels and damaged some 50 houses. However, he expects that more reports of material destruction will come to light.

Other preparations in Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic

In anticipation of the storm’s arrival, American Airlines on Tuesday announced two additional flights out of Montego Bay and one out of Kingston for people seeking to leave Jamaica before Beryl arrives. The airline was also restarting operations in Barbados, St. Lucia, and Grenada on Tuesday. Flights out of St. Vincent remained suspended because of the airport’s closure, a representative for the company told the Miami Herald over email.

Evan Thompson, the director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, said forecasters expected some weakening as Beryl nears but not enough to avoid damage.

“It may not sufficiently decrease in strength for us to feel complacent or to feel comfortable. It is likely to still be at least a Category 3 hurricane making its way very close to Jamaica, maybe even over sections of Jamaica, mainly southern parishes as we move through the day on Wednesday,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Bahamas Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday that it was airlifting students from Jamaica and advised those wishing to depart to head to the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston by 2 p.m. Jamaican time where a 50-seater Bahamasair aircraft would be waiting.

The eye of Hurricane Beryl is expected to be south of the island of Hispaniola on Tuesday evening before it moves near the southeast of Jamaica on Wednesday morning. The Cayman Islands are under hurricane warning as well. A tropical storm watch is up for the southern coast of Haiti and parts of the Dominican Republic. An orange alert was issued for Haiti’s south coast due to its vulnerability to floods, landslides and storm surges. Small boat operators were ordered to avoid taking to the sea until at least Thursday while residents in the South, Southeast and Grand’Anse were warned that Beryl’s passage could result in “strong winds and rain.”

In the Dominican Republic, two provinces were placed under red alert while the number of provinces placed under yellow was increased to 14, meaning they could also be affected by Beryl, which was located 239 miles southeast of Punta Palenque, San Cristóbal.