Hurricane Earl, now a powerful category-4 storm, barreled toward the US coast early yesterday after battering tiny islands across the northeastern Caribbean with heavy rain and winds that damaged homes and toppled power lines.
Earl is forecast to potentially brush the US east coast late tomorrow, before curving back out to sea, potentially swiping New England or far-eastern Canada. The US National Hurricane Center warned coastal residents from North Carolina to Maine to watch the storm closely.
“Any small shift in the track could dramatically alter whether it makes landfall or whether it remains over the open ocean,” said Wallace Hogsett, a meteorologist at the center. “I can’t urge enough to just stay tuned.”
In the Caribbean, Earl caused flooding in low-lying areas and damaged homes on islands including Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla and St Maarten. Several countries and territories reported power outages. Cruise ships were diverted and flights canceled across the region.
The storm’s center passed just north of the British Virgin Islands on Monday afternoon. By nighttime, the hurricane was pulling away from the Caribbean, but heavy downpours still threatened to cause flash floods and mudslides in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands by drenching already saturated ground.
The hurricane center said it was too early to say what effect Earl would have in the US, but warned it could at least kick up dangerous rip currents. A surfer died in Florida and a Maryland swimmer had been missing since on Saturday in waves spawned by former Hurricane Danielle, which weakened to a tropical storm on Monday far out in the north Atlantic.
Craig Fugate, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Earl’s approach ought to serve as a reminder for Atlantic coastal states to update their evacuation plans.
“It wouldn’t take much to have the storm come ashore somewhere on the coast,” Fugate said. “The message is for everyone to pay attention.”
The rapid development of Earl, which only became a hurricane on Sunday, took some islanders and tourists by surprise.
Wind was already rattling the walls of Lila Elly Ali’s wooden house on Anegada, the northernmost of the British Virgin Islands, when she and her son went out to nail the doors shut on Monday.
“They say the eye of the storm is supposed to come close to us, so we’ve just got to pray. Everyone here is keeping in touch, listening to the radio,” the 58-year-old said by phone from the island of 280 people.
There were no reports so far of major damage from Earl.
After Earl’s center passed, there were reports of roofs torn from homes on Anegada, but the extent of damage across the Virgin Islands was unclear on Monday night. Emergency officials said they had no immediate reports of any fatalities or serious injuries.
In Anguilla, several utility poles were down and a couple of roofs had blown away, but it was still too dangerous to go out and assess the full extent of damage, said Martin Gussie, a police officer.
In St. Maarten, sand and debris littered the streets, and winds knocked down trees and electricity poles and damaged roofs. However, police spokesman Ricardo Henson said there was no extensive damage to property.
In Antigua, at least one home was destroyed, but there were no reports of serious injuries. Governor-General Dame Louise Agnetha Lake-Tack declared Monday a public holiday to keep islanders off the road and give them a chance to clean up.
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