Hurricane Beryl Flattens Grenada’s Carriacou Island

A powerful Category 4 hurricane began sweeping through the eastern Caribbean Islands on Monday, making a devastating landfall on Carriacou, a small island north of Grenada, officials said.

In a briefing broadcast on social media, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell of Grenada said that Carriacou had been “flattened” in just half an hour and that government officials also expected “extreme” damage on the neighboring island of Petite Martinique.

The force of Hurricane Beryl — the first of this year’s season — left a trail of destruction in its path as it made landfall: trees snapped in half, extensive storm surge and roofs blown off as winds reached more than 150 miles per hour.

There was no power on any of the islands and communication was difficult, officials said.

Mr. Mitchell said that the complete scale of the damage on Carriacou and Petite Martinique would not be clear until Monday evening, adding that he would travel to Carriacou as soon as it was safe to do so.

“There was devastation all around,” the prime minister said. “We therefore expect that we will have to quickly transition into damage assessment and recovery and stabilization mode.”

Early reports of damage also emerged in Grenada’s capital, St. George’s, as the storm passed over the main island. The roof of a police station was ripped away and a hospital had to evacuate patients to a lower level after its roof sustained damage.