Beryl’s ‘Armageddon-like’ impact: Few buildings stand, power grid destroyed in Caribbean

As Hurricane Beryl bore down on Jamaica on Wednesday, the islands in its wake were getting a clearer picture of the destruction the record-setting storm left behind in the southeastern Caribbean.

“It is almost Armageddon-like, almost total damage or destruction of all buildings whether they be public buildings, homes or other private facilities,” said Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell after a helicopter survey on Tuesday. “Complete devastation and destruction of agriculture. Complete and total destruction of the natural environment; there is literally no vegetation left anywhere on the island of Carriacou.”

In St. Vincent and the Grenadines to the north, fellow Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves on Wednesday described Union Island as “a field of devastation.”

“The roofs of all these buildings are gone,” Gonsalves said of the island of about 3,000 people in the southern Grenadines as he flew over.

The storm has already been blamed for at least four deaths in the eastern Caribbean where two people died on the island of Carriacou, another in mainland Grenada and another in Union Island, a sister island to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Two other deaths have been reported in northern Venezuela during the storm’s passage, the Associated Press reported, adding that five people are also missing. The toll is expected to climb and Beryl’s passage along the Jamaican coastline could add to it. The storm is packing not just 145-mph winds but up to nine feet of storm surge.

Mitchell said the devastation is worse than he and others previously thought.

“It is clear that agriculture has taken quite a battering. It is clear that many persons have lost their roofs…many people have lost their entire homes,” Mitchell said about mainland Grenada, which also took a beating. “But the destruction in Grenada. even in St. Patrick, which is extensive, is of almost no significance, compared to the total destruction that Hurricane Beryl has brought to the islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique.”

It is now estimated that only two percent of the buildings and homes there survived — 98 percent have been destroyed or severely damaged.

Beyond the immediate housing crisis, Mitchell said the electrical grid system and communication systems had been destroyed. “As of this moment, communication is still a major problem,” he said late Tuesday.

Despite the dire circumstances, Mitchell said things have started to move. Volunteers have started to give their time, dropped off supplies and offered their boats freely to get supplies to the two sister islands.

“This is going to be a mammoth task to rebuild Carriacou and Petite Martinique, but we are committed to doing so” Mitchell said.

Gonsalves also promised that St. Vincent will turn “this terrible setback” into an opportunity to rebuild on both the mainland and the sister islands of Canouan, Palm Island, Mayreau and Union Island where homes were flattened by a record-setting Beryl as its winds and heavy downpour pounded the region.

“There are hundreds of houses on St. Vincent that have been severely damaged or destroyed,” he said during an address to the nation where he confirmed at least one death. “Roofs are gone, government buildings, especially schools...where you have had severe damage and of course there are churches.”

On Union Island at least 90% of the homes and buildings are damaged or destroyed, including a hospital and the roof of the airport terminal.

‘There is a sense of shock among people, at the same time a determination to rebuild,” said Gonsalves, who released a video showing him touring the trail of destruction and being greeted with hugs and tears by residents. “We’re going to build it back, we’re going to build it back better and stronger.”

Gonsalves some residents want to lead the islands in the southern Grenadines, while others are determined to stay. “There’s a lot of trauma,” he said of what he observed on residents’ faces as he tried to console them and give them hope. “It’s an extraordinarily difficult time.”

While the islands’ isolation add to the challenges of both cleaning up and providing relief, both Gonsalves and Mitchell launched efforts to get supplies in. Grenada issued a list while Gonsalves launched a relief fund for the government to receive financial contributions online. Persons can go to http://svghurricanerelief.gov.vc to make contributions.

“Building back here is huge,” he said. “It is a huge challenge demanding solidarity from all of our people, and from our allies in the region and from the international community.”

Beryl remained a Category 4 on Wednesday as it headed toward Jamaica, which is currently under a state of emergency.

Regional response

The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management agency, which is the regional body responsible for responding to disasters, said Wednesday there is not yet an official death toll and they are still assessing the destruction in member countries.

Elizabeth Riely, director of CDEMA, confirmed that while the Grenadines islands of Grenada and St. Vincent bore the brunt of the hurricane, Barbados, St. Lucia and Dominica were also affected.

Riley emphasized that damage assessments are ongoing. But the preliminary picture of what has emerged includes over 200 boats damaged in Barbados, and 40 homes damaged “with numbers expected to rise.”

“We have also confirmed significant damage to the fishing sector as well as coastal infrastructure particularly along the south coast of the island,” she said. Roads are also obstructed with debris and fallen trees.

St. Lucia also experienced significant damage in its southern part of the island, particularly in Soufrière. There are also reports of damage across the twin island state of Trinidad and Tobago; there were power outages and water disruption on Tobago and temporarily blocked roads on both islands. Dominica, meanwhile, has reported minimal damage.

Riley said based on reports provided so far, they know that 100% of the population on the island of Canouan, which has 12,600 inhabitants, was affected by Beryl. “There is an estimated 90% of the houses that were damaged either extensively or destroyed.”

A police station in Charlestown has lost its roof while the runway has been cleared and is usable. In addition to almost all the buildings and houses on Union Island, the control tower of the airport also had been destroyed. The power plant has also received significant damage and approximately 30% of the solar panels at a solar farm have also been damaged or destroyed.

On the island of Mayreau, all 300 inhabitants have been affected while 90% of the housing stock experienced some kind of impact. Meanwhile a resort on Palm Island has also been significantly damaged along with the desalination plant. The island of Bequia has fared a bit better than its sister islands, Riley said.

“Initial estimates are that about 10% of the houses and buildings, suffering roof damage. We’ve confirmed that the airport buildings and runways are still very much usable,” Riley said. “With respect to Mustique, the airport also is in good condition as well as the jetty.:

“The overall picture with respect to the Grenadine islands is quite significant, severe and of course the focus as this time is on the population which has been significantly impacted. They’re also exposed, so there are considerations related to urgent shelter for those persons,” Riley said.

Shelter is also a consideration for the entire 6,081 residents who live on Carriacou and the 900 people who call Petite Martinique home.

Riley said the 15-member Caribbean Community bloc leaders met on Tuesday to address the ongoing disaster and her agency has activated its regional response to assist those nations that have been affected while keeping an eye on Beryl’s impact to Jamaica, Cayman, Haiti and possibly Belize.