Hurricane Beryl Tracker, Path Update as 'Monster' Storm Hits 160 MPH

Hurricane Beryl intensified to a Category 5 storm late on Monday as it lashed the southeast Caribbean, destroying buildings, uprooting trees and damaging electricity lines across Barbados.

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As of early Tuesday, the hurricane was still attacking the southeast Caribbean as it moved forward on its path toward the sea just south of Jamaica, with winds that have increased to nearly 160 mph. It is expected to reach Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula by late Thursday as a weaker Category 1 storm.

A storm of this strength, fueled by hot water in the Atlantic and Caribbean, comes uncommonly early for the season. Already before becoming the earliest Category 5 storm on record, Beryl had broken a record as the first-ever Category 4 storm in June, with winds of at least 130 mph.

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It's only the second time on record that a Category 5 storm has been recorded in July, after Hurricane Emily on July 17, 2005, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami. Several studies have shown that climate change is expected to make extreme weather events like hurricanes more frequent and more severe as the planet warms up.

Beryl has left destruction and devastation along its path as it ripped through the Caribbean, with at least one person dead in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, who announced widespread damages to homes and key infrastructure in the country, said on Monday that there could be more fatalities.

"We have to wait this monster out," he said, adding that he expected the extreme weather to besiege the country for days.

The hurricane made landfall in the southern Grenadines on Monday afternoon. As of the latest NHC update, issued early on Tuesday, Beryl is still intensifying in the southeastern Caribbean and is expected to bring "life-threatening" winds and storms to the area.

"Beryl is forecast to continue moving rapidly west-northwestward during the next couple of days," the center wrote in its update. "On the forecast track, the center of Beryl will move quickly across the southeastern and central Caribbean Sea today and is forecast to pass near Jamaica on Wednesday."

As of Tuesday, tropical storm warnings are in place for St Lucia and Martinique, parts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. An earlier hurricane watch for Jamaica has been updated to a hurricane warning.

The southeast Caribbean hasn't been hit by such a strong hurricane since 2004, when Hurricane Ivan wreaked havoc in Grenada, causing millions in estimated damage—according to UN data, twice the country's GDP—and killing dozens.