"KINGSTON - Hurricane Beryl barreled toward Jamaica as a powerful Category 4 storm on Tuesday after battering smaller islands in the eastern Caribbean, and scientists cited human-caused climate change as the likely culprit for the storm's rapid strengthening.

The unusually early hurricane felled power lines and unleashed flash floods. It has so far claimed at least three lives.

Beryl, the 2024 Atlantic season's first hurricane and the earliest storm on record to reach the highest category on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, hit St. Vincent and the Grenadines especially hard, according to Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves."

Maria Cardona reports for Reuters July 2, 2024. [2]