 Barrel being called a very serious threat. Eric Blake, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center, says, I doubt the storm is a Category 5. We expect the storm to begin to lose some strength later today, but we still expect it to be a powerful hurricane when it affects Jamaica on Wednesday. At least four people have died after Barrel slammed ashore in the southeast Caribbean. Barrel II named stormed in the Atlantic season, which runs from June 1st to November 30th.