The US National Hurricane Center said Beryl's eyewall was "brushing the south coast of Jamaica"

Wind-whipped rain pounded the island for hours as residents heeded authorities' call to shelter until the storm had passed. Power was knocked out in much of the capital

Prime Minister Andrew Holness said on Wednesday afternoon that nearly 500 people were placed in shelters

By evening, he said that Jamaica has not seen the "worst of what could possibly happen"

"We can do as much as we can do, as humanly possible, and we leave the rest in the hands of God," Holness said

Several roadways in the country's interior settlements were impacted by fallen trees and utility poles, while some communities in the northern section were without electricity, according to the government's information service

Kingston resident Pauline Lynch said that she had stockpiled food and water in anticipation of the storm's arrival. With wind already driving rain, Lynch said, "I have no control over what is coming so I just have to pray that all people of Jamaica is safe and we don't suffer no deaths, no loss"

By midday, winds already howled in the capital, turning the sea into churning whitecaps as Beryl's eye scraped by the island's southern coast

"We are very concerned about a wide variety of life threatening impacts in Jamaica," including storm surge, high winds and flash flooding, said Jon Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather