It is 11:10 a.m. local time when Hurricane Beryl hits Carriacou north of Grenada on Monday. A little later, the eye of the hurricane is right above the small island. The satellite images from the US National Hurricane Center do not bode well. Beryl is a category 4 hurricane, the second-highest level. With wind speeds of up to 130 knots (240 km/h), it sweeps across the island and leaves a trail of devastation in its wake. Hardly any house can withstand the hurricane.
Carriacou means “island of reefs” and is a largely unknown island with 6,000 inhabitants. The island is considered a paradise by Caribbean sailors. The inhabitants are extremely friendly and helpful, the capital Hillsborough with its colorful, picturesque houses exudes Caribbean charm and there are many boats moored in Tyrell Bay.
There are also two marinas with land moorings. Those coming from the beautiful Grenadines usually make a stop on Carricaou, as this is where you can check in for Grenada. The island is a popular destination, especially during the hurricane season. It is actually considered as safe. The last hurricane to move this far south was Ivan in 2004. But this year everything is different.
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“In just half an hour”, Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell would later say, Beryl had “flattened the island”. There was “extreme damage” on the neighboring island of Petite Martinique. And the islands north of Carriacou, which belong to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, also suffered “immense destruction”, as their Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves confirmed in a press conference. “An estimated 90 percent of the homes on Union Island were severely damaged or destroyed, and similar destruction is expected on Mayreau and Canouan islands,” Gonsalves said.
The full extent of the damage is not yet clear, even on the first day after the hurricane passed through. In many regions, the electricity has failed and mobile communications have collapsed. The affected islands have declared a state of emergency. Two fatalities are known so far.
Sailors are lucky
It seems that the sailing community got off lightly. Thousands of yachts usually “summer” in Grenada during the hurricane season, which officially began on June 1 and lasts until the end of November. Partly on land, partly at anchor or on mooring buoys. The widely ramified bays in the south of the main island are considered particularly safe. Especially this early in the hurricane season.
Sebastian Wache, meteorologist at Wetterwelt, on Hurricane Beryl: “There has never been a hurricane that has ever formed so early and then moved so south. No wonder we’ve never seen a major hurricane this early in the year and this far south. The water and air temperatures have been abnormally high since 2023. This means there is enough energy available. We don’t actually expect these water temperatures until the end of August/September. Climate change is also showing its full force here.”
Sufficient time for preparation
The US National Hurricane Center forecast the potential for a hurricane early on – and warned of the southern track. However, reasonably reliable statements about the exact course can only be made 48 hours in advance. And so the area from St. Lucia in the north down to Grenada and even as far as Tobago was initially seen as a possible gateway. At least the sailors had enough time to prepare.
The Swiss sailing couple Sabine Löwenthal and Heinz Bachmann are spending their third hurricane season on Grenada. With their catamaran R9B, a Sunreef 50, they are moored in the Port Louis Marina in Grenada’s capital when Beryl announces her arrival on the Atlantic.
