SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Hurricane Beryl roared through open waters on Tuesday as a monstrous Category 5 storm on a path that would take it near Jamaica and the Cayman Islands after earlier making landfall in the southeast Caribbean, killing at least four people.
A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and a hurricane watch for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. Beryl was forecast to start losing intensity on Tuesday but still to be near major hurricane strength when it passes near Jamaica on Wednesday, the Cayman Islands on Thursday and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The center warned that Beryl was expected to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge to Jamaica, where officials warned residents in flood-prone areas to prepare for evacuation.
"I am encouraging all Jamaicans to take the hurricane as a serious threat," Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in a public address late Monday. "It is, however, not a time to panic."
Beryl is the earliest Category 5 storm ever to form in the Atlantic, fueled by record warm waters.
Early Tuesday, the storm was located about 300 miles southeast of Isla Beata in the Dominican Republic. It had top winds of 165 mph and was moving west-northwest at 22 mph.
"Beryl remains an impressive Category 5 hurricane," the National Hurricane Center said.
A tropical storm warning was in place for the entire southern coast of Hispaniola, an island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
As the storm barreled through the Caribbean Sea, rescue crews in the southeast Caribbean fanned out across the region to determine the extent of the damage that Hurricane Beryl inflicted after landing on Carriacou, an island in Grenada, as a Category 4 storm.
Three people were reported killed in Grenada and Carriacou and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said.
One fatality in Grenada occurred after a tree fell on a house, said Kerryne James, minister of climate resilience, environment and renewable energy.