As Hurricane Beryl approaches Jamaica, actress Sheryl Lee Ralph is among the people on the island preparing to weather the Category 4 storm.
Ralph, who plays Philadelphia public school teacher Barbara Howard on “Abbott Elementary,” took to social media Tuesday night to discuss the impending hurricane. She shared a video from a home on the island, asking her followers to “pray for us as you pray for others.”
“From the looks of the sky, it looks like Beryl is going to be here much sooner than the news keeps saying,” she said in a post to X, formerly Twitter. “It’s very calm in Jamaica. The sky is so beautifully clear and they said that the sea looked like glass today. … I just wanted to say to everybody, please, stay inside.”
Hurricane Beryl is a Category 4 storm, downgraded overnight from Category 5, which is the highest rating on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Beryl had become the earliest hurricane to ever reach Category 5 status in the Atlantic Ocean, and its winds peaked at 165 mph.
With wind speeds between 130-156 mph, Category 4 hurricanes have the potential tear the roofs off buildings and knock out electricity for weeks. Beryl is projected to make landfall in Jamaica on Wednesday, and the country’s officials issued a curfew from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The storm has already killed at least six people in other parts of the Caribbean.
Ralph referenced the curfew in her video, urging her Jamaican followers to “stay off the roads in Kingston.” The Jamaican American actress frequently visits the island, and even received the Order of Jamaica at a ceremony in the nation’s capital in 2022. Her mother, Ivy Ralph, was a pioneering Jamaican fashion designer who created the Kareeba suit. The two-piece menswear staple was embraced by Michael Manley, the country’s fourth prime minister.
Born in the United States, Ralph split time as a child between Jamaica and Long Island, New York. According to reports, she is back in Jamaica now with her daughter Ivy Coco Maurice and son Etienne Maurice for Etienne’s wedding, which is scheduled for Saturday.
It’s unclear if her husband, Pennsylvania state Sen. Vincent Hughes, is with her. Hughes’ office did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Wednesday, and the senator appeared on voting roll calls in Harrisburg on Monday and Tuesday as legislative sessions continued.
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