Tracking Hurricane Beryl: Where in the US the category 5 storm is likely to hit

Hurricane Beryl is projected to strike Texas at the end of the week, according to one forecast model. 

The monster storm continues to surge across the Caribbean as a Category 5 storm leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

At least four people have been killed in the devastation, which flattened the island of Carriacou in Grenada when it first made landfall on Monday.

The deadly hurricane is now intensifying as it heads towards Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, where locals have been warned to brace for the same life-threatening winds.

Current models put the 165mph super storm on a track toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula by late Thursday.

But Americans are being urged not to let their guard down, with some forecasters predicting that the storm could sweep northwards into the Gulf Coast by Sunday. 

Beryl is the earliest Category 5 storm ever to form in the Atlantic, something forecasters say is a bad omen for the rest of the US' hurricane season.

Early Tuesday, the storm was located about 300 miles southeast of Isla Beata in the Dominican Republic. It had top winds of 165 mph and was moving west-northwest at 22 mph.

Whether the US will be caught up in the chaos will be determined by a ridge of high pressure currently sitting above the Gulf Coast.

If the pressure drifts eastward, it could allow the storm to drift northwards, potentially impacting residents in south east Texas, one model suggests.

'The most likely scenario is for the storm to move westward into Mexico,' AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Forecaster Alex DaSilva said.

'However, it is very important to note that if the high pressure across the Southeast weakens, that can allow the storm to move farther north and potentially directly impact the Gulf Coast.'

'We really can't rule out the storm trying to glide northwards over the Gulf of Mexico, it really depends on where it hits the Yucatan peninsula,' Hurricane expert Dr Levi Cowan of Tropical Tidbits added.

Beryl was forecast to start losing intensity on Tuesday, but is expected to remain near major hurricane strength when it passes near Jamaica on Wednesday, the Cayman Islands on Thursday and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center. 

The center warned that Beryl was expected to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge to Jamaica next, where officials warned residents in flood-prone areas to prepare for evacuation.

'I am encouraging all Jamaicans to take the hurricane as a serious threat,' Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in a public address late Monday. 'It is, however, not a time to panic.'

A tropical storm warning was in place for the entire southern coast of Hispaniola, an island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

As the storm barreled through the Caribbean Sea, rescue crews in the southeast Caribbean fanned out across the region to determine the extent of the damage that Hurricane Beryl inflicted after landing on Carriacou, an island in Grenada, as a Category 4 storm.

Three people were reported killed in Grenada and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said.

One fatality in Grenada occurred after a tree fell on a house, Kerryne James, minister of climate resilience, environment and renewable energy said.

She said the nearby islands of Carriacou and Petit Martinique sustained the greatest damage, with water, food and baby formula a priority.

An emergency team was expected to travel to Carriacou on Tuesday morning.

'The situation is grim,' Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell told a news conference Tuesday. 

'There is no power, and there is almost complete destruction of homes and buildings on the island. The roads are not passable, and in many instances they are cut off because of the large quantity of debris strewn all over the streets.'

Mitchell added: 'The possibility that there may be more fatalities remains a grim reality as movement is still highly restricted.'

Meanwhile, Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, said 90 percent of homes on Union Island were destroyed, and that 'similar levels of devastation' were expected on the islands of Myreau and Canouan.

The last strong hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada.

Grenadian resident Roy O'Neale, 77, recalled how he lost his home to Ivan and built back stronger, with his current home sustaining minimal damage from Hurricane Beryl.

'I felt the wind whistling, and then for about two hours straight, it was really, really terrifying at times,' he said. 'Branches of trees were flying all over the place.'

In Barbados, prime minster Mia Mottley said at least 20 fishing boats had been sunk after the island was battered by high winds.

'Right now, I´m real heartbroken,' said Vichelle Clark King as she surveyed her damaged shop in the capital of Bridgetown that was filled with sand and water. 

Beryl has broken several records, including marking the farthest east that a hurricane has formed in the tropical Atlantic in June, according to Philip Klotzbach, Colorado State University hurricane researcher.

 The storm strengthened from a tropical depression to a major hurricane in just 42 hours, which only six other Atlantic hurricanes have done, and never before September, according to hurricane expert Sam Lillo.

Beryl is the second named storm in the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30.

Forecasters warned the phenomenon will likely mean disaster for the rest of the hurricane season in the US and beyond.

'It's the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Central American basin,' World Meteorological Organization spokesperson Clare Nullis said.

'It sets a precedent for what we fear is going to be a very, very, very active, very dangerous hurricane season, which will impact the entire basin.'

Anne-Claire Fontaine, scientific officer for the WMO Tropical Cyclone Programme, said one reason for Beryl developing so early in the season was linked to warmer ocean temperatures.

'The Main Development Region (MDR), the place in the ocean where the hurricanes are developing... is the warmest ever.'

 Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Alberto made landfall in northeast Mexico and killed four people.