Mr Mitchell said many people on the main island of Grenada had lost their homes, but the destruction was much worse in Carriacou and Petite Martinique. Authorities were still trying to assess the extent of the damage on the two islands, particularly to the power grid and water supply.
Grenada, like other Caribbean nations, gets most of its drinking water from rainwater harvesting, which is done through roof drains that lead to storage containers. Terrence Smith, head of the country’s water agency, said the storm damage was not expected to immediately cause life-threatening shortages in Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
“We think it’s very unlikely,” Smith said Tuesday. “If it’s true that most homes have lost their roofs, then they can no longer collect rainwater. But many of these homes have weeks of storage.”
However, a recent drought has forced many island households to rely on desalination plants for water, and Smith said the plants in Carriacou and Petite Martinique “were likely negatively impacted by the hurricane.” That system had already been under pressure long before the hurricane hit.
Beryl has broken records as the first Category 4 hurricane, and then the first Category 5 storm, to form in the Atlantic Ocean so early in the season. A recent study found that with rising ocean temperatures, Atlantic hurricanes are more likely to grow from a weak storm to a major Category 3 or higher storm in just 24 hours.
Mr Mitchell said Beryl was a direct result of global warming and that Grenada and other countries like it were on the front line of the climate crisis. “We are no longer prepared to accept that it is OK for us to constantly suffer significant and clearly demonstrated loss and damage as a result of climate events and be expected to rebuild year after year while the countries that are responsible for creating this situation – and exacerbating it – sit back,” he said.
Jovan Johnston contributed reporting from Kingston, Jamaica, and Daphne Ewing-Chow from Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.
