Important Takeaways:
- Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall Monday on Carriacou Island, was the first Category 4 storm ever to form in the Atlantic Ocean in June.
- No storm has reached Category 4 intensity so early in the hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
- The previous record was held by Hurricane Dennis, which slammed into Cuba as a Category 4 storm on July 8, 2005.
- The storm then intensified on Monday, making history again as the earliest Category 5 storm on record in the Atlantic.
- The storm has killed at least four people so far, and officials said the number of fatalities could increase in the coming days.
- In a news briefing Monday, Prime Minister of Grenada Dickon Mitchell said Hurricane Beryl flattened Carriacou in half an hour.
- Rapid intensification is a major concern because storms that strengthen that quickly tend to be more destructive and can strike before people have time to evacuate or make adequate preparations.
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