Category Archives: Caribbean

Weather tracker: Tropical Storm Sara and Super Typhoon Man-yi wreak havoc

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Powerful storm systems bring heavy rainfall, widespread flooding and landslides to Central America and Asia

Tropical Storm Sara has caused significant disruption across Central America in recent days after forming in the Caribbean Sea on Thursday afternoon. It is the 18th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and the third this month. The large number of tropical storm and hurricane formations this season can be attributed to the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico being warmer than average, thus providing more energy for the development and intensification of these systems.

Since its formation, Sara has affected Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Belize and Guatemala, bringing heavy rainfall, widespread flooding and landslides. The slow-moving nature of the storm has exacerbated the damage, prolonging the duration of its impact. However, Sara is losing strength; initially it had sustained winds of 45mph on Thursday but weakened slightly after moving inland, with winds dropping to 40mph by Sunday. According to the National Hurricane Centre, Sara is expected to dissipate into an area of low pressure as it moves north-west toward the southern region of the Yucatan peninsula on Monday.

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Narendra Modi to make ‘historic’ Guyana visit for energy talks

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Indian PM’s trip expected to focus on trade and investment as oil-rich Caribbean country’s economic boom continues

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, will make a “historic” state visit to the oil-rich Caribbean nation of Guyana this week when the two countries are expected to sign energy and defence agreements.

Modi’s visit to the country, from Tuesday to Thursday, will be the first from an Indian prime minister since Indira Gandhi’s in 1968, two years after Guyana gained independence from Britain.

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Florida threatened by another major late-season tropical storm

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Meteorologists track disturbance in Caribbean Sea predicted to become storm named Sara

Florida is at risk of being hit by yet another major tropical storm only weeks after Hurricanes Helene and Milton devastated towns across the state.

Meteorologists are currently tracking a new disturbance predicted to evolve into a storm in the Caribbean Sea. The storm, to be named Sara, will form in the western Caribbean later this week and may make a turn towards south Florida as a powerful hurricane next week if wind patterns change, according to the Hurricane Tracker App.

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Haiti appoints new prime minister as security crisis mounts

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Entrepreneur Alix Didier Fils-Aimé replaces Garry Conille as country rocked by worsening gang violence

Haiti’s transitional presidential council has appointed the entrepreneur and former senate candidate Alix Didier Fils-Aimé as the new prime minister, according to the official gazette in the country.

The businessman replaces Garry Conille, who was named prime minister in May. The shake-up is the latest blow to political stability amid soaring levels of gang violence.

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Weather Tracker: Hurricane Rafael triggers nationwide blackout in Cuba

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Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua also reeling after fifth major hurricane of season causes landslides and flooding

Hurricane Rafael became the 17th named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season this week, reaching the minimum expectation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Back in May, Noaa warned of an above-average level of activity, predicting 17-25 named storms, in comparison with the average of 14.

Of these 17-25 storms, Noaa predicted that eight to 13 would become hurricanes, four to seven of which would be classified as “major”, meaning category 3 or higher. Both of these predictions are also above average, and these thresholds have already been reached, with Rafael being the 11th hurricane and fifth major hurricane of the season.

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Tropical Storm Rafael gains intensity in Caribbean as it nears Cuba

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Storm expected to reach hurricane status but should weaken before it hits the US Gulf coast

Tropical Storm Rafael has grown more powerful in the Caribbean Sea and is poised to reach hurricane strength on Wednesday, carrying the risk of damaging wind and rainfall. But it should weaken as it approaches the US Gulf coast, where several states have not been hit by a hurricane in November, according to records maintained since the early months of the US civil war.

Portions of the Florida Keys could see tropical storm conditions starting on Wednesday night, according to the National Hurricane Center.

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Tropical Storm Rafael triggers hurricane warning for Cayman Islands

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Storm expected to bring heavy rain to US Gulf coast later this week

Forecasters posted a hurricane warning in the Caribbean on Monday afternoon after a late-season disturbance south of Cuba strengthened into Tropical Storm Rafael and set its sights on the US Gulf coast.

The 17th named storm of an overactive Atlantic hurricane season will bring heavy rain to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands before strengthening to a hurricane and probably hitting Cuba, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

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Keir Starmer urged to ‘engage’ on reparations at Commonwealth summit

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Call from head of Caribbean reparations body comes as Bahamas foreign minister claims UK PM will change his position

Britain has a legal and moral case to answer over its historical role in slavery, the chair of the Caribbean’s slavery reparation commission has said, as Keir Starmer continues to reject calls to put the issue on the agenda at the Commonwealth summit.

Responding to the British prime minister’s insistence to “look forward” rather than have “very long endless discussions about reparations on the past” when he meets 55 other country leaders on Friday, the distinguished Caribbean historian Sir Hilary Beckles, who chairs the Caribbean governments’ reparations body, articulated the region’s call to the British government and institutions to “engage in a compassionate, intergenerational strategy to support postcolonial reconstruction”.

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Cuba in complete blackout after national electrical power grid fails

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Most businesses were closed on Friday as officials blamed deteriorating infrastructure and fuel shortages for failure

Cuba’s entire national electrical grid has shut down after one of the island’s major power plants failed, Cuba’s energy ministry said, plunging the entire country into a blackout.

Earlier on Friday, the communist-run government had closed schools and non-essential industry and sent most state workers home in a last-ditch effort to keep the lights on for residents.

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Violent protests erupt in Martinique over high cost of living with 14 injured

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French Caribbean island sees scenes of vehicles engulfed in flames and gutted buildings as officials impose curfew

Officials in the French Caribbean island of Martinique have imposed a 9pm to 5am curfew in parts of its capital to quell escalating violent protests over the high cost of living.

According to Radio France International (RFI), at least 14 people, including 11 police, have been injured – some by firearms – as alarming scenes on social media showed vehicles engulfed in flames, gutted buildings and heavily geared riot police marching towards the protests.

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Historian hails Trinidad plan to remove Columbus ships from coat of arms

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PM’s proposal to replace ships with steelpan wins applause from his party but some in capital voice opposing views

The government of Trinidad and Tobago wants to remove a depiction of three ships used by Christopher Columbus from its coat of arms, in a move hailed by a historian as important in addressing historical inaccuracies and shrugging off colonial identities.

The Caribbean country’s prime minister, Keith Rowley, announced a plan on 18 August to replace the ships with a representation of Trinidad and Tobago’s national instrument, the steelpan.

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Jamaica declares state of emergency after eight killed in weekend shootings

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Two attacks in Clarendon killed eight and injured nine as government looks to focus on gang violence

Jamaica’s prime minister has issued a 14-day state of emergency in the country’s southern Clarendon parish amid fears of further violence after two shootings on Sunday left eight dead and nine wounded.

Seven people were killed when gunmen fired indiscriminately at a birthday party in Cherry Tree Lane, Clarendon; the eighth victim was killed in a second shooting.

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Tropical Storm Ernesto hits Caribbean and intensifies en route to Puerto Rico

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US territory shutters schools and opens shelters as storm is forecast to also near Virgin Islands and become hurricane

Tropical Storm Ernesto battered the north-east Caribbean on Tuesday as it took aim at Puerto Rico, where officials shuttered schools, opened shelters and helped move dozens of the US territory’s endangered parrots into hurricane-proof rooms.

Ernesto is expected to become a hurricane early on Wednesday, prompting forecasters to issue a hurricane watch for the US and British Virgin Islands as well as the tiny Puerto Rican islands of Vieques and Culebra.

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Jubilation in Caribbean at St Lucia’s and Dominica’s first Olympic medals

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Sprinter Julian Alfred and triple jumper Thea LaFond both win gold on Saturday

There was jubilation in the Caribbean on Sunday after St Lucian sprinter Julian Alfred and Dominican triple jumper Thea LaFond secured their countries’ first ever medals, both golds.

From entering the Games as a little-known competitor, Julian Alfred demonstrated immense athletics prowess by winning the women’s 100-metre finals on Saturday, in 10.72sec.

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Slave trader Colston left bequest to Church of England, archive shows

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As archbishop of Canterbury visits Jamaica, research reveals trader left money to church’s missionary arm

The archbishop of Canterbury has spoken of the work to address the Church of England’s historic links to chattel slavery on a trip to Jamaica, as archive research reveals that the slave trader Edward Colston left a bequest in the 18th century to the church’s missionary arm.

Justin Welby is on a three-day visit to the West Indies to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. He said a £100m fund set up by the church would be used to benefit communities “which still bear the scars” from slavery.

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Caribbean leaders call for ‘Marshall plan’ to help rebuild after Hurricane Beryl

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Three prime ministers write to UK government saying islands cannot sustain debt from repeated rebuilding

Caribbean leaders struggling to raise hundreds of millions after Hurricane Beryl wiped out entire islands have asked the UK government to back a “Marshall plan” to rebuild their devastated countries.

The hurricane, which made landfall in the Caribbean on 1 July, killed at least 11 people, demolished more than 90% of buildings in parts of Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and left thousands homeless and without running water, electricity and food.

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Tropical storm Beryl strengthens into hurricane as it approaches Texas coast

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Storm roars across Gulf of Mexico and is forecast to continue gaining strength as it heads towards the US

Tropical storm Beryl strengthened to again became a hurricane late on Sunday as it neared southern Texas, where its outer bands lashed the coast with rain and intensifying winds.

The hurricane was projected to come ashore early on Monday in the middle of the Texas coast around Matagorda Bay, an area about 100 miles (161km) south of Houston, but officials cautioned the path could still change.

The hurricane has sustained winds of 75mph (120km/h), according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, and was moving north-west at 10mph (16km/h).

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Tropical Storm Beryl smashes through Caribbean and heads for Texas coast

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Earliest category 5 hurricane on record is 495 miles south-east of Corpus Christi, with winds near 60mph

Tropical Storm Beryl, which has already smashed its way across the Caribbean as a hurricane before slamming into the Yucatán peninsula, is intensifying once again and expected to make landfall as a hurricane for the third time along the Texas coast.

The powerful hurricane – Beryl is the earliest category 5 hurricane on record – was by early Saturday approximately 495 miles (797km) south-east of Corpus Christi, Texas. The storm is forecast to turn toward the north-west later Saturday and then north/north-westward by Sunday night.

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Hurricane Beryl makes landfall in Mexico as category 2 storm and expected to reach Texas

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Hurricane warning issued for coast from Puerto Costa Maya to Cancún, including Cozumel, with coastal residents in Texas told to prepare

Hurricane Beryl has made landfall as a category 2 storm in Mexico’s top tourist destinations, triggering a red alert in the region following its deadly trail of destruction across several Caribbean islands.

The storm’s core shifted over the Yucatán, with winds slowing to approximately 100mph (160km/h) as it reached the north-eastern region of Tulum, famed for its white-sand beaches, lush landscapes and Mayan ruins.

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Hurricane Beryl barrels through Cayman Islands after battering Jamaica

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Category 3 storm with wind speeds of up to 120mph continues to wreak ‘utter devastation’ in Caribbean

Hurricane Beryl is barrelling through the Cayman Islands after causing death and destruction in Jamaica.

The British overseas territory is bearing the brunt of the hurricane, which has been causing “utter devastation” in the Caribbean since Monday, when it almost destroyed parts of Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

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