The storm had already shown its destructive potential across a long swath of the southeastern Caribbean., jumbled fishing boats in Barbados and damaged or destroyed 95% of homes on a pair of islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines before rumbling toward the Cayman Islands and taking aim at Mexico's Caribbean coast after leaving at least seven dead in its wake.
Early Thursday morning, the storm’s center was about 500 miles east-southeast of Tulum, Mexico. It had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph and was moving west-northwest at 20 mph . Beryl was forecast to make landfall in a sparsely populated area of lagoons and mangroves south of Tulum in the early hours of Friday, probably as a Category 2 storm.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weeklyMichelle Forbes, the St. Vincent and Grenadines director of the National Emergency Management Organization, said that about 95% of homes in Mayreau and Union Island have been damaged by Hurricane Beryl.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has promised to rebuild the archipelago.