The Haitian Hurricane-Induced Deaths: a grim reality for the Caribbean as a hurricane does not threaten the Central Texas coast

Eric Berger told Houston Public Media that despite the fact that the central Texas coast is still uncertain, it is not likely that the same intensity as it is bringing to the Caribbean will hit it.

All three of Jamaica’s international airports are closed on Wednesday, and officials say the island’s electricity and water service will likely beshut off as a precaution to prevent fires and protect equipment.

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness has declared a “major disaster area” and implemented an island-wide curfew from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time, based on what he called the “strength, path and potential threat” posed by Beryl.

Holness said that this is to ensure the safety of everyone during the storm and prevent any movement with the intent to carry out criminal activity.

The NHC has a hurricane warning in place for Jamaica and all three of the Cayman Islands, where the center of the storm is expected to pass late Wednesday or early Thursday before moving over Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday.

Officials said about 98% of buildings on the islands — which are home to some 6,000 people — had been damaged or destroyed, including Carriacou’s main health facility, according to the New York Times. Three storm-related fatalities have been confirmed there so far, per the AP.

“The possibility that there may be more fatalities remains a grim reality as movement is still highly restricted,” Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Two other deaths have been reported in northern Venezuela’s Sucre state, where authorities said another five people are unaccounted for and a total of 25,000 have been affected by heavy rains, winds and river flooding from the outer bands of the storm.

The Biden-Kicking-Killing-Distribution Keynote Address on Climate Change in the Context of Hurricane Beryl

At the news conference, President Biden said people in impacted islands andcommunities are in our prayers, and we stand by to provide assistance to them.

The Washington, D.C.-based organization World Central Kitchen said on Tuesday it has teams in the region ready to distribute food, starting with sandwiches.

“While Texans take time to enjoy the holiday weekend with family and friends, it’s important to stay weather aware, pay close attention to the rapidly-changing forecasts, and don’t be caught without an emergency plan,” said Texas Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd.

“My sense of what will happen is we will see enhanced rain chances Saturday and especially Sunday but I am not anticipating a hurricane to form in the Gulf and move into the central Texas coast,” he added.

According to the prime minister, the earliest Category 5 Hurricane on record, had been caused by Beryl and highlights the growing impact of climate change on small islands.

Echoing those remarks, Jamaican Senator Delroy Williams told CNN that the international community must do more to widen coastal cities’ access to climate change-related funding and improve infrastructure in low-lying areas.

The executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is native of Carriacou and was made even more personal by that conversation.

His late grandmother’s home was destroyed, and his parents’ property was damaged, his office told AFP. climate change isn’t a tomorrow problem, he said.

Every economy is experiencing this right now. The climate crisis is the main culprit of disasters on a scale that used to be the stuff of science fiction.

Hurricane data from the federal government shows that rapid intensification is usually normal for hurricanes that form in the Atlantic. “Every Category 5 hurricane that hit this country in the last 100 years was only a tropical storm 3 days [earlier],” says Ken Graham, the director of the National Weather Service. The biggest storms are going to gain strength very quickly.

A weak tropical depression grew into a major storm in 48 hours before it made its first landfall.

But this year, the water temperature in the tropical Atlantic is off the charts. With a lot of heat available to fuel storms, it has been in record-breaking territory for over a year.

“In terms of the science, it’s unfortunately kind of right in line with what we expect when we’re warming the planet and we’re warming our oceans, especially,” Garner says.

Climate change might be changing those patterns because the ocean has absorbed excess heat from human greenhouse gas emissions.

The relationship between warming and rapid intensification hasn’t been fully understood by scientists, says a senior scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “There may be one that’s emerging, but we’re not sure.”