A tropical storm sped up to become Hurricane Erin mid-morning on Friday, as it approached Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, bringing heavy rains that could cause flooding and landslides on its way to becoming a major Atlantic hurricane.
The huge storm was swirling across the Caribbean and is ultimately expected to head towards Florida, picking up speed over warm ocean water, before ultimately veering away from the US mainland.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami reported on X that Erin, the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, was several hundred miles east of the northern Leeward Islands, with maximum sustained winds of 70mph.
It had been expected to strengthen into a hurricane by Friday early afternoon but reached the designation a little earlier, as it approached the north-east Caribbean, prompting forecasters to warn of possible flooding and landslides, and strengthen into a major category 3 storm late this weekend.
The NHC has warned of the storm strengthening into a category 3 hurricane, bringing possible flooding and landslides.
Private sector forecaster AccuWeather went further. “Erin is forecast to explode into a powerful category 4 hurricane as it moves across very warm waters in the open Atlantic. Water temperatures at the surface and hundreds of feet deep are several degrees higher than the historical average,” said Alex DaSilva, AccuWeather’s lead hurricane expert.
Storm watches were issued for Anguilla and Barbuda, St Martin and St Barts, Saba and St Eustatius and St Maarten, with torrential rain forecast to start late Friday in Antigua and Barbuda, the US and British Virgin Islands, and the southern and eastern parts of the US territory of Puerto Rico, east of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Up to 4in of rain are expected in the region, with isolated totals of up to 6in, according to the NHC. Forecasters have also warned of dangerous swells.
“There is still uncertainty about what impacts Erin may bring to portions of the Bahamas, the east coast of the United States, and Bermuda in the long range,” NHC said on Friday.
Hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry said to the Associated Press that Erin is forecast to eventually take a sharp turn north-east that would put it on a path between the US and Bermuda.
“The forecasts for next week still keep the future hurricane safely east of the mainland US,” he said.
Erin formed from a cluster of showers and thunderstorms that moved off the African coast last week, becoming a tropical rainstorm near the Cabo Verde Islands and dumping up to 8in of rain in five hours. Televisão África reported that at least six people died, with more missing, after flash flooding.
AccuWeather predicted Erin would create dangerous surf and rip currents up the US east coast next week, with waves reaching up to 15ft in North Carolina.
