On Union Island, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Malaika Watt had just invested her savings in restocking her small convenience store, Lika’s Outlet.
Boxes of goods arrived to refill the shelves - stationery, food items, and everyday essentials. As a new business, the store had gone through months of uncertainty, but it was finally starting to take shape. For the first time in a while, she felt steady enough to think ahead.
That sense of stability lasted only a short time. A week later, Hurricane Beryl hit. Overnight, her shop was gone. The stock she had just invested in was swept away.
“It was horrific and terrifying,” Malaika says. “I realized it wasn’t just me in this position,” she says. “But mentally and financially, it has put me completely off track.”
Malaika’s experience reflects the scale of devastation caused by Hurricane Beryl. The Category 4 storm passed through Saint Vincent and the Grenadines with sustained winds of up to 150 miles per hour, affecting an estimated 56 percent of the population. The impact was most severe in the Southern Grenadines, where over 90 percent of buildings were heavily damaged or destroyed, witheconomic damage estimated at US $230 million or 22% of GDP.
Critical infrastructure and basic services were hit hard. Electricity transmission and distribution networks were almost entirely destroyed in parts of the Grenadines. Water supply in the Southern Grenadines terminated for several months, requiring the daily shipment of water trucks. Schools, fisheries facilities, roads, and ports sustained significant damage. More than 1,000 people (20 percent of the population) were evacuated from Union Island within 48 hours, many relocated to the mainland by emergency ferry services.
“Hurricane Beryl decimated the entirety of the Grenadines. Every aspect of life in the Grenadines was destroyed,” said Benarva Browne, former Minister of Urban Development, Energy, Seaports, Grenadines Affairs and Local Government in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
To respond to the immediate crisis and support longer-term recovery, the government, with support from the World Bank, rapidly launched the Beryl Emergency Resilient Recovery (BERRy) Project in less than three months. Backed by US$63 million in financing, the project was designed to provide short-term income support, restore livelihoods, and rebuild and strengthen critical infrastructure using a “build back better” approach. This included over US$ 9 million in reimbursements for more than 35 school renovations, including the construction of temporary learning spaces for displaced students, and the restoration of electrical power to the island, which also provided funding for the government’s national housing reconstruction program.
One of the first lifelines was income support. For families suddenly without income, the project introduced temporary income support. By mid-2025, over 5,200 households had received payments ranging from US$111 to US$300 for six to nine months, depending on household size and level of impact. This assistance provide a critical buffer as families navigate loss, relocation, and rising living costs.
For others, recovery also meant finding ways to earn again, even temporarily. Through the project’s Labor-Intensive Temporary Employment (LITE) program, more than 5,500 people were employed in road clearing, debris removal, and community cleanup across the country. For many participants, this was the first source of income after the storm.
“Hurricane Beryl affected me very bad,” says Angela Joseph, a LITE worker from Landy Park. “Most of my roof blew off, and I have a sick mother at home. But I was grateful that I could still come out and get a little work to support my household.”
For small business owners like Malaika, restarting economic life required tools, equipment, and capital. Through the BERRy Project’s small business recovery grants, vulnerable entrepreneurs can receive between US$1,000 and US$3,000 to replace lost assets and restock inventory; they also receive training and coaching to build business skills and financial literacy. Women-led businesses account for 68 percent of the over 260 supported businesses as of December 2025.
Investments are also rebuilding transport and water infrastructure — with permanent bridges under construction to reconnect communities, fisheries facilities being restored, new water trucks procured, and desalination plants planned to strengthen long-term water security in the Southern Grenadines.
Officials from the National Emergency Management Organization emphasize that recovery will be a long, ongoing process.
Nevertheless, across Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the work is moving—steadily, visibly, and with purpose. In communities where storms hit hardest, people are rebuilding the life they know: reopening shops, restoring roads, supporting neighbors, and doing what it takes to stay rooted. With partnerships that protect livelihoods and investments that strengthen both institutions and infrastructure, the country is not only recovering from Hurricane Beryl—it is building a more resilient foundation for the future.
For Malaika, recovery is still fragile. Her business is not fully back. The trauma has not disappeared. But momentum is returning.
“There is hope,” she says. “But it starts with you. You pick up, and you go on.”
