Caribbean braces as Hurricane Beryl strengthens to 'very dangerous' storm

 Beryl, the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season, strengthened into a "very dangerous" Category 3 storm Sunday morning as it threatened the southeast Caribbean with potential life-threatening winds and storm surge, US forecasters said. 

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Beryl -- currently churning in the Atlantic Ocean about 420 miles (675 kilometers) east of Barbados -- "continues to quickly strengthen this Sunday morning."

"The storm is now a very dangerous Category 3 hurricane," it said, warning that the storm's eye is expected to move early on Monday across the Windward Islands, a cluster of islands including Martinique, Saint Lucia and Grenada.

Beryl is "continuing to rapidly intensify," the NHC forecast said, indicating the storm would strengthen even further to an "extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane" by the time it hit those Caribbean communities.