What happens if my flight is cancelled due to Hurricane Beryl? Everything you need to know

13.07.2024 - 11:06 / euronews.com / Andrew Holness / Saskia ODonoghue

At least seven people in Jamaica have been killed and thousands of others are left assessing the damage after Hurricane Beryl hit the southern coast of the island in the early hours of Thursday.

While Beryl was downgraded from a “potentially catastrophic” Category 5 hurricane to a Category 4, it remains one of the most powerful ever to hit the country, bringing winds of up to 215 km an hour.

Jamaica’s prime minister Andrew Holness has extended an island-wide curfew to 06.00 local time (11.00 GMT) on Thursday and a flash flood warning is also in effect.

Since leaving the island nation, Beryl has weakened to a Category 3 storm. As of Thursday, it’s rolling towards the Yucatán Peninsula in southern Mexico, according to the US National Hurricane Centre.

Hurricane Beryl is the first-ever such storm to reach Category 4 strength in the Atlantic during the month of July.

Despite the downgrade from Category 5, Jamaica's meteorological service warned that continuing periods of rainfall from the storm could "result in flash flooding over low-lying and flood-prone areas of the island".

On Thursday morning, more than 400,000 people were without power, according to the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS).

Taking to X - formerly Twitter - Holness urged residents to "take all necessary steps for your safety and the protection of your property" and thanked “first responders, essential services, security forces and good Samaritans who have assisted others in this time of crisis".

"This storm will pass, and we will recover," the prime minister added.

The nearby, smaller islands of Mayreau and Union Island, located in the Lesser Antilles, were even worse hit.

Local reports say about 95 per cent of homes there have been damaged by Hurricane Beryl.

Officials say three people were reported killed in Grenada and Carriacou and another death was recorded in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

In northern Venezuela, three other deaths were reported and four people remain missing, while in Grenada, one person lost their life after a tree fell on a house.

On Thursday, the hurricane’s path is heading west, reaching the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico on Thursday night or Friday morning. While it is downgraded to a Category 3, parts of the Peninsula as well as Belize are expecting damaging winds as well as dangerous storm surges and heavy rainfall.

From Friday until early next week, the US National Hurricane Service says the forecast remains uncertain but that Beryl could potentially pose a risk to coastal Mexico and the south of Texas.

If it turns north over the Gulf rather than continuing west, it could possibly hit coastal Texas and Louisiana.

The UK foreign office has recommended avoiding Jamaica and the Yucatán Peninsula, but recommends people