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.
Fishing boats damaged by Hurricane Beryl wade in the water at the Bridgetown Fisheries, Barbados, Tuesday, July 2, 2024
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.
Hurricane Beryl is predicted to rip through six US states, according to one terrifying model shown here on the pink line. Each of the different colored strands are spaghetti models which represent a possible path for the storm depending on various meteorological factors
The ferocious category five storm already left six people dead and caused significant damage to parts of the Caribbean. Pictured: Destruction on the island of Petite Martinique, Grenada
Parts of Texas have since been added into the hurricane's forecast cone by the 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 on Wednesday
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.
People walk amidst damaged property following the passing of Hurricane Beryl, in Union Island, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Members of the local environment agency protect sea turtles' nests ahead the arrival of Hurricane Beryl, in Cancun, Mexico
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.
Hurricane Beryl tore through the island of St Lucia leaving a trail of devastation
A man looks at damaged vehicles after devastating floods swept through the town after Hurricane Beryl passed off the Venezuelan coast, in Cumanacoa, Venezuela, July 2, 2024
Hurricane warnings were issued to the Mexican resort towns of Cancun and Cozumel sending people to the supermarket to buy provisions
Mexico's Caribbean coast was preparing for Beryl on Wednesday, with the popular resorts of Cancun and Cozumel issued urgent hurricane warnings.
The head of the country's civil defense agency the hurricane l is expected to make a rare double strike on Mexico.
Laura Velázquez said the storm is expected to make landfall between late Thursday and early Friday along a relatively unpopulated stretch of the Caribbean coast between Tulum and the inland town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto.
The hurricane is expected to weaken to a tropical storm as it crosses the Yucatan peninsula and reemerge over the weekend at storm strength into the Gulf of Mexico.
Velázquez said that Beryl is then expected to hit Mexican territory a second time in the Gulf coast states of Veracruz or Tamaulipas, near the Texas border.
As Beryl barreled through the Caribbean Sea, rescue crews in southeastern islands fanned out to determine the extent of the damage the hurricane inflicted on Carriacou, an island in Grenada.
Three people were reported killed in Grenada and Carriacou and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said.
Two other deaths were reported in northern Venezuela, where five people are missing, officials said. About 25,000 people in that area also were affected by heavy rainfall from Beryl.
The storm is expected to weaken as it moves westwards but still be near major hurricane strength as it passes over Jamaica
Storm clouds hover over the mountains as people make last-minute preparations for the arrival of Hurricane Beryl on July 03, 2024 in Kingston, Jamaica
Scattered debris clutters the waterfront after Hurricane Beryl passed the island of Carriacou, Grenada July 2, 2024
One fatality in Grenada occurred after a tree fell on a house, Kerryne James, the environment minister said.
Carriacou and Petit Martinique sustained the greatest damage, with scores of homes and businesses flattened in Carriacou.
Grenada's prime minister, Dickon Mitchell, said Tuesday there was no power, roads are impassable and the possible rise of the death toll 'remains a grim reality.'
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has promised to rebuild the archipelago.
He noted that 90 percent of homes on Union Island were destroyed, and that 'similar levels of devastation' were expected on the islands of Myreau and Canouan.
The last strong hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada.
