Mayreau is one of the smallest inhabited islands in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a tiny dot on the Caribbean map. Hurricane Beryl nearly erased it from existence.
Beryl devastated everything in its path, tearing roofs off schools, demolishing homes, and stripping trees bare across the island’s 0.46 square miles (1.2 square kilometers). The island, home to about 360 people, was left in ruins.
“Everything was flying all over the place,” recounted Mayreau resident James Alexander. “I saw a tank full of water lifted up and swirl in the air.”
Beryl made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on the Caribbean island of Carriacou in Barbados and near St. Vincent and the Grenadines, leaving a trail of destruction before intensifying into a Category 5 storm.
The hurricane, the earliest on record to reach Category 5 in the Atlantic, later moved over Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, battering the resort town of Tulum. It reemerged in the Gulf of Mexico, prompting Texas officials to urge coastal residents to prepare as it headed their way. Beryl has caused at least 11 deaths across the Caribbean islands.
Other islands in the Grenadines, such as Canouan, also suffered extensive damage. But tiny Mayreau’s cries for help have largely gone unheard.
According to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, 98% of Mayreau’s structures were severely damaged.
When the storm hit, some residents sought refuge in The Immaculate Conception Church. However, the sturdy building, over 100 years old and built with local stone, could not withstand the Category 4 hurricane’s fury. Those sheltering in the church narrowly escaped with only minor injuries. With only one small clinic, also damaged, and a single nurse on the island, the minimal injuries were a small blessing for the people of Mayreau.
The storm left every home on the island without a roof, reducing many to piles of dust and rubble.
“This church suffered an awful fate as a result of the passage of Hurricane Beryl, and it’s an indication of what has happened throughout this island,” said Luke Browne, St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ former minister of health, standing in front of the church’s ruins.
Browne, who has visited Mayreau since childhood, has seen the congregation “grow and thrive.” He pleaded for help in rebuilding the island.
Now, Mayreau residents are stranded without electricity or shelter to protect them from the sun and rain. They desperately need everything, from food and water to tents and baby formula for the island’s 14 youngest inhabitants.
Mayreau is far from the mainland, accessible only by a four-hour boat trip from St. Vincent. While some aid is expected to trickle in from nearby islands, the need is immense, and the aid is only guaranteed for the short term. With no vehicles on the island, residents form human chains to pass vital bottles of water to the improvised shelters.
The small population relies on tourism and fishing, both of which were disrupted by the storm.
“I’m just happy,” Alexander said, “to be alive.”
