As Hurricane Beryl intensifies, the southeast Caribbean is on high alert. Beryl, now a Category 4 hurricane, marks the first major storm of the 2024 Atlantic season. Government officials urgently advise residents to seek shelter as the storm approaches.


The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that Beryl, currently 565 km (350 miles) east of Barbados, is an "extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane." Forecasters predict that the storm's eye will pass over the Windward Islands early Monday, affecting areas such as Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Grenada.


The NHC's forecast warns of "potentially catastrophic hurricane-force winds, life-threatening storm surges, and damaging waves." As of now, hurricane warnings are in effect for Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, and Tobago. Meanwhile, Martinique, Dominica, and Trinidad are under tropical storm warnings or watches.


In Barbados, residents have begun to prepare, with long lines at gas stations and crowded supermarkets. Many households are boarding up their homes in anticipation of the storm.


Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, along with Grenada, face the highest risk as the storm's core is expected to hit early Monday.


Category 4 hurricanes, such as Beryl, have sustained winds of at least 209 km/h (130 mph). As of 11:35 am (15:35 GMT), Beryl's winds were estimated to be at this speed, with the NHC warning of heavy rainfall and localized flooding.


The NHC expects Beryl to remain powerful as it moves across the Caribbean, advising residents and officials in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and the northwestern Caribbean to closely monitor the storm's progress. The formation of such a powerful storm early in the hurricane season, which runs from June to November, is rare. Only five major hurricanes have been recorded in the Atlantic before the first week of July. Beryl would be the sixth and the earliest to form this far east in the tropical Atlantic, according to NHC meteorologist Michael Lowry.


In May, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted an "extraordinary" hurricane season, with up to seven storms of Category 3 or higher. The increase in storm activity is attributed to warm Atlantic Ocean temperatures and the effects of the La Nina phenomenon in the Pacific.


Climate change has led to more frequent and devastating extreme weather events, including hurricanes, in recent years.