Kingston locks down as Hurricane Beryl approaches

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Residents of Kingston, Jamaica’s capital, are locking down as Hurricane Beryl makes its approach.

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People on the island say they’re already being hit with increasing wind and rain by the hour.

Now, officials say they’re trying to tend to members of low-lying communities who refuse to evacuate.

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“Water’s coming over,” Kingston Mayor Andrew Swaby said Wednesday, speaking from an emergency shelter as Hurricane Beryl bore down on his island nation. “It’s getting very dangerous.”

Across the city, residents packed up for what’s expected to be the strongest storm to come near the island since 1988.

However, in the low-lying community of Port Royal, located in the middle of Bull Bay, Swaby’s government encountered problems as it tried to carry out evacuations.

“I’ve never left. I won’t leave,” one resident said. “I feel safer in my community than to go outside.”

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That woman told government workers she was afraid of the cleanliness and safety of emergency shelters, something Swaby tried to address with the city’s homeless population as he walked the streets and urged them to find safer ground.

“You’ll never be 100 percent prepared for events like these,” Swaby said.

“Jamaicans were experienced in terms of dealing with hurricanes,” Vernon Derby of ‘Bark di Trute!’ added. “But this one, if it comes to the force that is coming, I don’t know what much we can do.”

Derby is a radio broadcaster who says buildings have been upgraded since the last storm, but he worries about washed-out roads, the availability of drinking water, and landslides on the inner island.

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“Jamaicans have taken it very seriously,” Derby said. “We have used the internet and social media very responsibly.”

Beryl is forecast to remain at or near major hurricane intensity as it continues past Jamaica Wednesday and moves towards the Cayman Islands Thursday.

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