Jamaica on high alert: PM declares state of disaster, issues curfew ahead of Hurricane Beryl

The Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, has declared the entire island a disaster area for the next seven days as it prepares for Hurricane Beryl. He issued an islandwide curfew from 6 am to 6 pm on Wednesday to safeguard all the citizens and residents.

Holness made the announcement during a national broadcast on Tuesday. It was also announced that an evacuation order is in effect for flood-prone and low-lying areas of Jamaica. He further urged the citizens of Jamaica to cooperate with notices for evacuation whenever they are issued by the authorities. Meanwhile, he also made an allocation of $5 million for each of the 63 constituencies for emergency response.

However, even without the issuance of notice, if the residents are living in a low lying area, the Prime Minister asked them to seek shelters or move to safer grounds.

During his address, he noted, “The cabinet reviewed our plans to manage the threats of the category five hurricane, and a caucus of parliament was also briefed on our state of readiness as well as provisions for emergency response.”

While declaring the country a disaster area, PM Holness stated, “The CDF after careful review of the trajectory of the storm, the likely strength as well as the impacts, the potential threats emanating and having been notified in writing by the Minister who is responsible for Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, I am now declaring the whole of the island of Jamaica to be a disaster area in accordance with section 26 of the Disaster Risk Management Act for the next seven days.”

He also talked about the curfew and said that it is to ensure the safety of everyone during the passage of the storm, and to prevent any movement with the intent to carry out criminal activity.

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The present weather update shows that Hurricane Beryl is driving towards Jamaica as a Category 4 storm with 155mph winds after creating a deadly way through Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines, while destroying buildings and killing at least six.

Beryl intensified to the earliest Category 5 Hurricane recorded in the Atlantic overnight before weakening back to Category 4 on Tuesday. It made landfall in the Windward Islands on Monday, where it “flattened” Carriacou Island within 30 minutes, Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said.