The death toll from Hurricane Beryl has climbed to 10 across the region and is widely expected to rise further as communications return on islands damaged by flooding and deadly winds.
As Beryl moved away from Jamaica early on Thursday, the island discontinued its hurricane warning but kept a flash flood watch, the Meteorological Service of Jamaica said on X.
By late Wednesday, the storm's eye was about 100 miles (161 km) west of Kingston, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC), as its core headed toward the Cayman Islands.
Packing maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour (209 kph), Beryl was expected to dump 4-6 inches (10-15 cm) of rain on the Cayman Islands into Thursday, where a hurricane warning was in effect and life-threatening surf and rip currents were possible, NHC said.
A hurricane warning was also in force for the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.
A woman died in Jamaica's Hanover parish after a tree fell on her home, Richard Thompson, acting director general at Jamaica's disaster agency said in an interview on local news.
Nearly a thousand Jamaicans were in shelters by Wednesday evening, Thompson added.
The island's main airports were closed and streets were mostly empty after Prime Minister Andrew Holness issued a curfew for Wednesday, which was extended Thursday as storm conditions continued.
The loss of life and damage wrought by Beryl underscores the consequences of a warmer Atlantic Ocean, which scientists cite as a sign of human-caused climate change fueling extreme weather.
Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, said in a radio interview that the country's Union Island was "flattened" by Beryl and that it would "be a Herculean effort to rebuild."
Nerissa Gittens-McMillan, permanent secretary at St Vincent and the Grenadines' agriculture ministry, warned on state media of possible food shortages after half the country's plantain and banana crops were lost, with significant losses also to root crops and vegetables.
Power outages were widespread across Jamaica, while some roads near the coast were washed out.
Confirmed fatalities included at least three in St Vincent and the Grenadines, where Union Island suffered destruction of more than 90% of buildings.
In Grenada, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell described "Armageddon-like" conditions with no power and widespread destruction, while also confirming three deaths.
In Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro told state television that three people had died and four were missing, with over 8,000 homes damaged.
Beryl is the 2024 Atlantic season's first hurricane and the earliest storm on record. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has forecast a large number of major hurricanes in an "extraordinary" season this year.