Beryl hurricane 2024: Foreign Office issues travel warning for Barbados, Jamaica and Bahamas as tropical storm hits

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The Foreign Office has issued a hurricane warning that could pose a serious threat to life to holidaymakers at popular Caribbean destinations. 

The government highlights the risk posed by trips to St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Barbados, Dominica, St Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda. The travel advice comes as a hurricane is set to batter the islands, with a warning that people could be evacuated.

The hurricane's centre is expected to pass roughly 26 miles south of Barbados, according to Sabu Best, the director of the island's meteorological department. The officials said: "Weather projections forecast a major hurricane to hit the region possibly as early as Sunday June 30 and into the following week. You should follow and monitor local and international weather updates from the US National Hurricane Center and follow the advice of local authorities, including any evacuation orders. 

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The Foreign Office has issued a hurricane warning that could pose a serious threat to life to holidaymakers at popular Caribbean destinations. (Photo: AFP via Getty Images)The Foreign Office has issued a hurricane warning that could pose a serious threat to life to holidaymakers at popular Caribbean destinations. (Photo: AFP via Getty Images)
The Foreign Office has issued a hurricane warning that could pose a serious threat to life to holidaymakers at popular Caribbean destinations. (Photo: AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images

“The hurricane season runs from June to November. You should follow and monitor local and international weather updates from the US National Hurricane Center and follow the advice of local authorities, including any evacuation orders." Florida-based expert on hurricanes, Michael Lowry, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "It's astonishing to see a forecast for a major (Category 3+) hurricane in June anywhere in the Atlantic, let alone this far east in the deep tropics. #Beryl organising in a hurry over the warmest waters ever recorded for late June."

Beryl is tipped to be the second heavyweight hurricane in a season that spans June 1 to November 30 in the Atlantic. Saturday (29 June) saw Beryl about 720 miles east-south-east of Barbados, clocking maximum sustained winds at 75mph whilst it continued moving west at 22mph. 

Beryl has been recorded as the most powerful June tropical storm in that part of the tropical Atlantic, according to Philip Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University. "We need to be ready," stated Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley during a public address on Friday (28 June). "You and I know when these things happen, it is better to plan for the worst and pray for the best."

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