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Hurricane Beryl has torn across the island country of Grenada on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean flattening numerous homes and businesses.
Knewz.com has learned that where the uncharacteristically early storm did not create “extremely dangerous and life-threatening” circumstances, it devastated lives and livelihoods.
On the island of Carriacou, officials noted when the storm made landfall, it was accompanied by winds moving as fast as 150mph. At that point, the roofs of houses were ripped off.
YouTube documentarian, Jonathan Petramala made it onto the island in the wake of the tempest and spoke to a few of the affected locals.
His camera captured a scene of devastation with what was once colorful brightly-colored homes reduced to debris as far as the eye could see.
“How are you?” Petramala asked one man trying to deal with the effects of the natural disaster.
“Alive,” came the answer. The individual had never been through a Hurricane before and had no idea what to expect when the community was warned of the impending travesty the day before.
“Nothing [can] prepare you for this,” he said while shaking his head. “This is saddening. I won’t wish this on my worst enemy.”
“Somebody else is going to experience this tomorrow later today… tomorrow.”
“We have three [storm] systems right behind us,” the man noted. “What about the people who don't have time to recover.”
Another local standing outside his place of business and home showed photos of what it looked like before Hurricane Beryl flattened it.
“All of this is gone,” he said, and went on to tell Petramala that he had lived in the place for the last three years, but now thanks to the storm, his food truck was gone along with his home and his mother’s.
Like Petramala’s first interviewee, this individual claimed that when he heard about the impending storm he never expected this level of damage.
The video kept filming as Petramala wandered off onto the main street lined with junk and at a point, impassable.
“There isn't a business here that isn't touched.” One of the establishments that took heed when the warnings were issued, was the Grenada Co-Operative Bank. Its windows remained boarded up while everything around appeared to be ravaged.
As Petramal walked along the streets speaking to the island’s people he met one of the locals who asked him if he had ever experienced a hurricane before. Petramala said he had.
The interviewee-turned-interviewer then asked if he had seen worse, to which Petramala said: “This is as bad as it gets.”
“There's no exaggeration—this is as bad as it gets.”
Hurricane Beryl was a category 5 storm that formed earlier in the season than usual due to the uncharacteristically warm ocean currents.
According to the Associated Press, by late morning, July 2, the winds propelling it had reached speeds of 160 mph.
The United States National Hurricane Center Director, Michael Brennan, has since warned that Jamaica would be next and sustain a direct hit from the incoming storm.
