(Reuters) -The leaders of small Caribbean island nations on Thursday said that financial damages wrought by the passage of Hurricane Beryl would run beyond their capacities and urged lenders to ease financing to address the worsening impacts of climate change.
The prime ministers of Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines each said in a conference that damages from Beryl would run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, and warned that their communities could not face another disaster.
“We have four months left to go in the hurricane season,” said Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell, adding that his nation and neighboring St. Vincent and the Grenadines “simply cannot afford another hurricane.”
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June to November, but Beryl, this season’s first hurricane, was the earliest on record to strengthen to the maximum Category 5.
Human-caused climate change has fueled warmer seas, which in turn helps storms intensify faster and stronger.
The leaders of the two nations each estimated that about 10,000 people lost their homes due to Beryl, making those residents much more vulnerable.