Hurricane Beryl: Jamaica sees flooding, damage
At least nine people have been killed after strong winds from Hurricane Beryl ripped roofs off of homes in Jamaica and left a trail of damage in Barbadoes, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
On Thursday morning, the hurricane brought storm surges to the Cayman Islands and now is moving toward the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.
Roger Lynn and Karleene Sutherland, whose brother Kiplin Batchelor lives in Dallas, are in Jamaica. They spoke to FOX 4 on Tuesday before Beryl arrived.
Now that the storm has passed, we checked back in on them.
"In spite of everything we're doing well," said Sutherland. "Once it was very strong it brought a lot of rain, but the impact that we expected, it was not as strong as we anticipated."
Beryl did bring significant damage and flooding to the island.
"What we're hearing and learing by reports is that the southern belt, in particular the parishes of Clarendon, Manchester and Saint Elizabeth, got the brunt of the winds, and they have been affected severely," said Lynn.
Much of Jamaica is now in the dark.
"We understand about 70 percent of the country is without power," said Lynn.
Because of the damage, there is a curfew in place on the island from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The storm was a Category 4 with 140 mile per hour winds as it passed south of Jamaica's capital of Kingston.
"Assessment is being done on the south side, and then we'll get a proper report from the state agencies as to how severe the damage is out there," said Lynn.
Beryl reached Category 5 status on Tuesday, making it the earliest major hurricane ever recorded in June and July.
"We're relieved that it wasn't as bad as a [Category 5] when it hit Jamaica, so we're grateful," said Sutherland. "We haven't heard of any loss of lives."
Back in Dallas, Kiplin Batchelor is thankful everything is okay with his loved ones.
"I feel good. Good to know that they're all safe and that my family is doing well in Jamaica that my family is doing well now," he said. "We're praying for our folks, our people who got affected the most."
Hurricane Beryl tracker: Landfall in Texas next week looking more likely
Hurricane Beryl continues to move west, and it is looking more likely that it will make landfall in Texas next week and impact our weather in North Texas.
As Beryl barrels toward the Gulf of Mexico, all eyes bracing to see if Texas could be in her sights.