Hurricane Beryl left a path of deadly destruction when it plowed through Barbados and the Windward Islands on Monday as a monstrous Category 4 storm.
Officials said at least three people were killed in Grenada and Carriacou, where the hurricane first made landfall. A fourth person was found dead in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Associated Press reported one fatality in Grenada was a result of a tree falling onto a house.
Officials in Venezuela said two people had died amid severe rainfall in the northern region of the country. Five other people are reported missing.
The powerful storm leveled homes and buildings on the Windward Islands with sustained 150 mph winds. Late on Monday it intensified to a Category 5 storm, becoming the earliest storm of that strength to ever form in the Atlantic.
"The situation is grim," Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said in a news conference Tuesday. “There is no power, and there is almost complete destruction of homes and buildings on the island. The roads are not passable, and in many instances they are cut off because of the large quantity of debris strewn all over the streets.”
Mitchell said more fatalities are expected.
Carriacou and Petit Martinique bore the brunt of the storm, suffering the greatest damage from Hurricane Beryl's strong winds and dangerous storm surge. Communication with the islands has been cut off and Mitchell said he was only able to reach Minister of Carriacou Tevin Andrews by satellite phone Tuesday morning.
Because of the extensive damage to the island’s gas stations, it’s been difficult to get fuel to the heavy machinery needed to start clearing the damage.
Mitchell said an emergency team with officials from Grenada and its regional partners will head to Carriacou to start assessing the damage and assisting with recovery efforts.
Photos from Barbados after the storm show boats of all sizes strewn across an inlet like toys as fishermen desperately tried to pull their sunken vessels from the water.
Hurricane Beryl now has its sights set on Jamaica, where it is expected to deliver life-threatening conditions starting on Wednesday.
The Cayman Islands and the south coast of Haiti to the border with the Dominican Republic are all under a hurricane watch.
The National Hurricane Center said Beryl will weaken some as it moves through the central Caribbean toward Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, but it is expected to maintain hurricane strength.
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