Hurricane Beryl is predicted to rip through six US states, according to one terrifying model.
The ferocious category five storm already left six people dead and caused significant damage after 165mph winds battered parts of the Caribbean.
Previous modelling suggested that the hurricane could skim Texas at the weekend.
Parts of the Lone Star State have since officially been added into the hurricane’s forecast cone by the National Hurricane Center, with locals in southern parts warned to brace for heavy rains and gusty winds from Monday.
However, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky could now also be swept up in the storm’s path, one model presented by hurricane expert Dr Levi Cowan shows.
At least five of the so-called spaghetti models now indicate the hurricane will lash the US.
Spaghetti models are strands showing the potential path of tropical cyclones.
For Beryl, most of the five models which impact the US show Texas in the firing line, but one additional path suggests Louisiana could see some impact too, with one possibility the storm sweeping all six states.
‘It’s really dependent on where the hurricane is launching from by the time we get to Friday if it’s coming off the Yucatan Peninsula far enough North, it may continue gaining latitude and threaten the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico, that could mean northern Mexico or Texas and the US Gulf Coast could be threatened,’ Dr Cowan said.
‘But if it crosses farther down say if it’s a weaker storm then it would likely continue West more into Eastern Mexico.’
Beryl’s path will be determined by the level of pressure over the southeast.
If this drops, it will allow the storm to move northwards potentially spelling disaster for the US.
Gulf Coast residents are being urged to keep an eye on the record-breaking storm, which is the earliest every category five hurricane ever in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Central American basin.
On Wednesday, Beryl was roaring toward Jamaica, with islanders scrambling to make preparations.
In Kingston, people boarded up windows, fishermen pulled their boats out of the water before sitting around a table to play dominoes beside a bay, and workers dismantled roadside advertising boards to protect them from the expected lashing winds to come.
A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. Beryl was forecast to weaken slightly over the next day or two.
However it is predicted to be at or near major-hurricane strength when it passes near or over Jamaica, near the Cayman Islands on Thursday and into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
Jamaica was under a state of emergency as the island was declared a disaster zone hours before the impact of Hurricane Beryl.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that the disaster zone declaration will remain in effect for the next seven days. Holness also announced an island-wide curfew between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
Security forces ‘will be fully mobilized to maintain public order and assist with disaster relief.
As soon as the hurricane has passed, the security forces have developed strategic plans to counter any potential threat of looting or any other opportunistic crimes,’ Holness warned.
An evacuation order was also issued for communities across Jamaica that are prone to flooding and landslides. Holness urged Jamaicans to move away from low-lying areas.
A hurricane watch was in effect for Haiti’s southern coast and the Yucatan´s east coast. Belize issued a tropical storm watch stretching south from its border with Mexico to Belize City.
Late Monday, Beryl became the earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic and peaked at winds of 165 mph Tuesday before weakening to a still-destructive Category 4.
Early Wednesday, the storm was about 125 miles southeast of Kingston. It had maximum sustained winds of 145 mph and was moving west-northwest at 20 mph, the center said.
