A fourth DC-8 flight transported additional disaster personnel and supplies to Carriacou.
In our ongoing and expanding relief efforts in four Caribbean locations, multiple DC-8 airlifts to Carriacou and Jamaica have carried in relief and medical supplies and personnel. We praise God for how He continues to work through our staff and partner churches to bring hope to hurting communities and remind Caribbean islanders that they are loved and not forgotten in the midst of their suffering.
July 8 Airlift to Grenada, Distributions, Medical Care, and Sling-Load Cargo
A fourth DC-8 airlift landed in Grenada July 8 with more than 23 tons of additional relief supplies to serve Carriacou, including supplies we are sling-loading on our helicopter to nearby Petite Martinique. Now nearly a week into our response, 75 Samaritan’s Purse staff are working in the four locations where we have provided tarps, solar lights, cooking kits and tens of thousands of gallons of clean drinking water.
Our medical teams have also treated dozens of patients since opening our field hospital July 8.
July 6 Airlift to Jamaica, Teams Serving Across Three Island Nations
A third DC-8 airlift bound for Jamaica departed our North Carolina hangar on the morning of July 6 carrying Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) members and relief supplies, including hygiene kits and shelter materials.
A third airlift landed in Jamaica with shelter supplies and other relief July 6.
Samaritan’s Purse is now operating across three island nations in the Caribbean: Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Jamaica. The ongoing response includes transport of more than 50 tons of aid to provide shelter, clean water, and medical care. More than 50 Samaritan’s Purse staff are working on the ground in these locations alongside local church partners to bring relief to Hurricane Beryl survivors.
We have been rushing relief to the Windward Islands and beyond since July 2 following the deadly July 1 landfall of the Category 4 storm on Carriacou. Its multi-day path of destruction–strengthened for several hours to Category 5– ravaged additional Caribbean islands on its way toward the Gulf of Mexico.
We are providing islanders with clean drinking water filtered through our desalination system in Carriacou.
Please pray for the many hurting people across multiple communities who are grieving loved ones and total loss of property. Pray also for our DART staff–including disaster personnel, medical teams, and chaplains–as they minister to suffering residents in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
JULY 4 AIRLIFT
A second DC-8 airlift bound for Carriacou Island departed Greensboro, North Carolina, in the early hours of Independence Day with an Emergency Field Hospital, an additional disaster response team and a 12-person medical team onboard, including doctors, nurses, medical technicians, and other personnel.
A second DC-8 airlift departed our hangar in Greensboro, North Carolina, bound for Carriacou Island in the early hours of Independence Day.
This will increase our capacity to provide non-surgical inpatient and outpatient medical services to the many suffering Carriacou communities, where homes and infrastructure were decimated within minutes of Hurricane Beryl’s landfall.
Homes on Carriacou were flattened within minutes of Beryl’s landfall.
This second airlift also included additional supplies of shelter materials and water filtration in our continued rapid relief response started July 2 to storm-devastated areas of the southern Caribbean.
July 2: First DC-8 Airlift to Carriacou
Our initial airlift the morning of July 2 carried 13 Disaster Assistance Response Team staff and 24 tons of life-saving relief, including 600 rolls of heavy duty shelter tarping, thousands of solar lights, collapsible jerry cans, a desalination water unit to provide clean drinking water, and medical supplies for our mobile medical unit.
“Hurricane Beryl pummeled the Windward Islands, and left thousands of families in need of emergency relief,” said Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse. “We started building out pallets of cargo before the hurricane even made landfall and are now on the way with life-saving aid. Please join me in praying for the families who are in the path of this storm, and for our Samaritan’s Purse staff who will be serving them.”
July 1: Hurricane Beryl Landfall
Hurricane Beryl roared ashore as a Category 4 storm on the island nation of Grenada Monday morning, July 1, packing 150 mph winds and dangerous storm surge. The island communities of Grenada’s Carriacou Island were decimated and left under water. Many homes were destroyed and thousands of people are without electricity. At least two people were killed on Carriacou. The island nation of Barbados was also impacted by the onslaught of devastating winds.
Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) members boarded our DC-8 this morning en route to Grenada.
By late Monday, the storm had strengthened to a Category 5, with winds reaching 175 mph as it bears down on the central Caribbean, targeting Jamaica and southern Hispaniola, the island shared by Dominican Republic and Haiti.
As the hurricane continued its deadly and destructive path through the Caribbean, Samaritan’s Purse worked with local church partners to determine needs as we prepared for deployment to the region.
This is the first Atlantic hurricane of 2024 and the strongest storm in recorded history to pass through the Grenadines, a small island chain including Grenada and St. Lucia in the southern Caribbean’s Windward Islands.
Please pray for these many suffering communities, for our local church partners, and for our team as we begin to respond in Jesus’ Name.
