Hurricane Beryl Nears Category 5 Strength as US Embassy Issues Warning

Hurricane Beryl strengthened as it churned toward several small Caribbean island nations on July 1, officials said, as the U.S. Embassy issued a warning for American citizens who are visiting small island nations. As of Monday at noon, the storm was rated as a Category 4 by the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC), which reported that Beryl had winds of 150 mph—about 7 mph shy of a Category 5 hurricane. Beryl will continue to “produce catastrophic winds and life-threatening storm surge” for the Grenadine Islands, Carriacou Island, and Grenada on Monday, the agency said. Hurricane warnings were in effect for Barbados, Grenada, Tobago, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines as thousands of people hunkered down in homes and shelters. The last strong hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada....