As Hurricane Beryl rips through the southeast Caribbean, Global Affairs Canada is warning travellers to avoid non-essential travel to Jamaica as well as several countries in the region.
Non-essential travel warnings are in place for the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Union Island in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Carriacou and Petite Martinique in Grenada due to Hurricane Beryl.
In the same statement, Canadians were also warned to avoid all travel to Haiti due to the hurricane, as well as threats posed by kidnappings, gang violence and civil unrest.
There are 3,162 Canadians registered in Haiti, 1,524 in the Cayman Islands, 1,625 in Jamaica, 236 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and 341 in Grenada. GAC says those numbers only represent those who chose to register, adding that there may be more.
At least seven people have died. Tearing winds have also caused widespread property and environmental damage.
The actual death toll may be higher. Communications systems were largely knocked out in the storm’s path through the eastern part of the Caribbean.
Hurricane Beryl’s is expected to travel west through the week, eventually affecting Mexico and southern Texas. (NOAA)
The storm’s path
By Wednesday afternoon, the storm had already torn through St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“Everything is destroyed, there’s nothing else in Palm Island,” Katie Rosiak, general manager of the Palm Island Resort, told Reuters.
Meanwhile, motorists lined up outside gas stations in Jamaica’s capital, Kingston. Steady rain has already washed out roads near the coast. High winds pelted parts of the island around midday, when the centre of the storm was located around 120 kilometres southeast of the city. Islanders are scrambling to board windows and bring boats ashore. Officials have warned people in flood-prone areas to prepare to leave.
Venezuela’s vice president was injured by a falling tree as she surveyed an area south of Beryl’s path on Tuesday night, where the Manzanares River in Sucre state swelled, according to local state television.
Where is it going?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast “devastating, hurricane-force winds, life-threatening storm surge, and damaging waves” would hit Jamaica by Wednesday afternoon. Those conditions are expected to spread to the Cayman Islands by nightfall.
Jamaica and Haiti are also expected to experience mudslides through the day.
On Thursday, a dangerous storm surge is expected to cast heavy rainfall over the Yucatan Peninsula and Belize. Hurricane and tropical storm warnings are in effect for those areas.
The western Gulf of Mexico area, including Texas, is also in the storm’s path. That region is expected to feel Beryl’s effects over the weekend, though forecasters say the storm’s intensity is difficult to predict that far into the future.
The NOAA also predicted up to 13 hurricanes could develop, meaning wind speeds will exceed 120 km/h.
On Monday, Beryl developed into a Category 5 storm as peak winds sped to 270 km/h. It later weakened to Category 4.
The above-average season will be triggered by a number of factors, according to the agency, including “near-record” warm ocean temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean and La Nina conditions in the Pacific.
Beryl’s landfall “sets a precedent for what we fear is going to be a very, very, very active, very dangerous hurricane season,” World Meteorological Organization spokesperson Clare Nullis told reporters in Geneva, according to Reuters.
Fishermen push a boat damaged by Hurricane Beryl at the Bridgetown fisheries, Barbados, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (Ricardo Mazalan / The Associated Press)
What to do if you encounter a storm while travelling
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
