Guyana on standby to deploy security personnel to Grenada after Hurricane Beryl passes

Last Updated on Monday, 1 July 2024, 22:37 by Writer

Prime Minister of Grenada, Dickon Mitchell on Monday said that Guyana was on standby to deploy security personnel to his tri-island country after the violent category four storm, Hurricane Beryl, passes.

He told a news briefing hours before that he was in contact with President Irfaan Ali and the Grenadian and top civilian security personnel were also communicating with one another. “We discussed security support services if necessary with President Ali and so he is on standby. His Commissioner of Police is in contact with our Commissioner of Police,” he said.

The Grenadian leader said he was also interacting, at the “political level”, with his colleague leaders all day Sunday and during Monday and those Caribbean countries are “on standby to pr0vide any assistance that is required, whether it be relief aid, whether it be water, whether it be support from a security and safety standpoint.”

Mr Mitchell said Grenada’s National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) was also in contact with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA). “We’ve already shortlisted potential relief items that we may need if it comes to that,” he said.

Back in 2004, Guyana Defence Force (GDF) soldiers had been deployed to Grenada as part of a regional response to the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan.

Meanwhile, based on updates from the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC), the Caribbean News Agency (CANA) reported that the extremely dangerous Hurricane Beryl has made landfall in Carriacou.

“Satellite imagery and Barbados radar data indicate that the eye of Beryl has made landfall on Carriacou Island at 11.10 am (local time),” the NHC said in a brief urgent updated statement.

“Data from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that Beryl’s maximum sustained winds have increased to 150 mph,” it added. The hurricane is now 30 miles north, north east of Grenada.