In times of hurricane, wrong information may result in death

The topic of meteorology and climate is, along with baseball and everyday life, what Cubans talk about most.

Thus, Hurricane Beryl has not only found a place in the conversation between acquaintances and strangers, but also has its share in social networks, that virtual neighborhood.

And like in every neighborhood, in addition to the nice people, those who do not get into trouble and help, there are also bad people always gossiping and filled with bad intentions.

Fake news posted on social networks where weather reports that have not been issued and possible trajectories not supported by data or scientific criteria could be included in this last category.

That is why the Cuban Institute of Meteorology (Insmet) itself and the Meteorological Society of Cuba warned last Saturday, on their respective Facebook profiles, about the need to only pay attention to meteorological information from official sources.

It happened with a “tropical cyclone warning no. 3", supposedly issued by Insmet. It was a fake news.

In times of hurricane, to mislead, deceive, and distort reality may result in death. Therefore, we will have to be very, very attentive to the trajectory of Beryl, which has already earned the unfortunate category of being the first Atlantic hurricane to reach category SS-4 in June.

In this regard, Professor Luis Enrique Ramos, historian of meteorology in Cuba, also recalled on Facebook that the impact of a hurricane in the southern group of the Lesser Antilles is not a frequent event, and recalled how over the last 60 years, only three have crossed over that area: 2005 (Emily), 2004 (Iván), and 1963 (Flora). The other tropical systems were not that strong: tropical depression and tropical storms.

However, the historian warns, Beryl is becoming a system of intensity similar to the terrible Barbadian Hurricane, which hit those islands from August 10 to 11, 1831, and caused 1,477 victims.

Now, the southern group of the Lesser Antilles will have the double uniqueness of having suffered the impact of two major hurricanes that set records for early formation: Emily, the earliest cyclone to reach category SS-5 in the entire Atlantic (July 16, 2005, 48 hours after hitting Granada); and at present, Beryl, the most advanced category SS-4 hurricane of any season in the history of Atlantic cyclones in the region, he states.

There are lots of reasons to be very attentive, but only to official reports.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff