Hurricane Beryl devastates St Elizabeth and Manchester

Hurricane Beryl has left a trail of devastation across the southern parishes of Manchester and St Elizabeth where infrastructure was severely impacted by the system's strong winds and driving rain.

Member of Parliament for Southwest St Elizabeth, Floyd Green described the situation as "complete devastation", noting that a number of people have lost their homes.

Further, he said a significant number of people in all communities across the constituency, from Treasure Beach to Barbary Hall, have reported losing their roofs.

"From all the reports I have received we have taken a most devastating blow in St Elizabeth from Hurricane Beryl. Significant numbers of roofs being lost, houses destroyed, trees uprooted, light poles downed, almost all roads are impassable. Going to be an extremely long night," he posted to social media platform X late Wednesday.

He said most of the main road network was impassable due to downed trees, including at Brompton, Lewis Town, Crawford, Luana to Brompton, Elim, Holland Bamboo, Nain and Goshen.

Green said he has already reached out to the National Works Agency and the Jamaica Public Service Company to try to get some of the roadways cleared.

He said a team from the Ministry of Labour will be on the ground Thursday to start responding to those with damage.

Meanwhile, it was a similar story in Manchester where persons reported losing their roofs in Grove Town, Lancaster and Hermitage in South Manchester.

At least one house was destroyed in the Lancaster community.

Several roads were reportedly blocked, including at Cross Keys and Cocoa Walk.

Beryl's eye wall brushed by Jamaica's southern coast Wednesday afternoon.

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