Hurricane Beryl barrels toward Jamaica

The Caribbean island nation of Jamaica on Wednesday was facing the brunt of hurricane Beryl, classified as a powerful 'Category 4' storm. So far it has killed at least seven people, flattened numerous homes and destroyed crops on smaller islands as it has churned through the eastern Caribbean.

Jamaica announced a state of emergency and was declared a disaster zone in anticipation. 

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness also announced an island-wide curfew between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Wednesday, saying the disaster zone declaration would remain for the next seven days.

Security forces "will be fully mobilized to maintain public order and assist with disaster relief. As soon as the hurricane has passed, the security forces have developed strategic plans to counter any potential threat of looting or any other opportunistic crimes," Holness warned.

Beryl strikes power grids, causes flash floods 

"Beryl has also affected the Cayman Islands and is expected to spin up to even higher speeds by Wednesday night and Thursday," the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an advisory.

Local authorities have issued hurricane warnings as the rapidly moving hurricane has felled power lines and unleashed flash floods across smaller islands.

Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince — currently in the grip of gang violence and experiencing an ongoing humanitarian crisis — also saw strong winds on Tuesday afternoon.

The new Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille has warned residents to take precautions and stay alert.

Grenada's PM calls it 'Armageddon-like'

Hurricane Beryl also churned towards St. Vincent and the Grenadines hitting the area particularly hard, according to Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves. "The hurricane has come and gone, and it has left in its wake immense destruction," he said.

"90% of homes had been severely damaged or destroyed on one island in the Grenadines archipelago, Union Island," Prime Minister Gonsalves added. He confirmed one death and said more fatalities could be confirmed in the coming days.

The situation is "Armageddon-like," Grenada's Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said in a video briefing on Tuesday. He stressed that Carriacou and Petite Martinique, two of the three islands that make up the country, were badly affected by the natural disaster.

"There is no power. There is almost complete destruction of homes and buildings," he said, citing impassable roads due to downed power lines and destroyed fuel stations crimping supplies.

Beryl, the first to reach Category 4 in June

Scientists have said that Beryl's arrival has come earlier than is normally the case for such powerful storms. Given how the storm is rapidly strengthening, human-caused climate change might be the culprit, scientists argue.

The weather system is this year's first Atlantic hurricane and the earliest storm on record to reach the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.

"The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale is a 1 to 5 rating based only on a hurricane's maximum sustained wind speed. This scale does not take into account other potentially deadly hazards such as storm surges, rainfall flooding, and tornadoes" the Central Pacific Hurricane Center reported.

sp/sms (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)