Hurricane Earl lashed the northern Leeward Islands with heavy rain and strong winds yesterday after strengthening into a Category 2 storm. Hotels were shut overnight as tourists sought shelter inside their rooms.
The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said Earl could become a major hurricane during the day, probably while north of Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands.
Heavy rain began falling late on Sunday on several islands including Antigua, where the Grand Pineapple Beach Resort battened down early as a precaution.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Winds were heavy but had not caused any major damage and the surf was higher than normal but not punishing, general manager Courtney Miller said.
Earlier on Sunday, islanders stocked up on food, water and supplies, set up shelters and tied down boats in harbors across the northern Caribbean as Earl blew toward the region.
Antigua’s V.C. Bird International Airport closed, and regional airlines LIAT and Winair suspended flights. Cruise ships diverted to other ports in the Caribbean and Mexico to avoid the storm’s path.
In St Kitts and Nevis, authorities urged people to take all necessary precautions for the hurricane, which is dwarfing the tiny island nations and territories of the northern Caribbean.
“We really don’t want any loss of life, whether by persons who are careless or by security or emergency persons trying to rescue people,” said Carl Herbert, head of the local emergency management agency.
Hardware stores did a brisk business in plywood and boards as jittery residents and employees of gleaming tourist hotels prepared to safeguard windows and doors.
“We haven’t been hit for quite a few years, but you may never know — this might be the time,” said Ashley Benta, from the Antiguan town of Gray’s Farm.
Late on Sunday, Earl was about 80km east-northeast of Barbuda and headed west-northwest at 24kph, according to the center in Miami. Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 75km from its center.
Earl became a hurricane on Sunday morning and has continued to grow rapidly in strength, fueled by warm ocean temperatures of 30°C.
The center expected Earl would become a major hurricane — meaning Category 3 or higher, with sustained winds topping 178kph — by late yesterday.
Earl could bring battering waves and storm surges of up to 1.2m above normal on some islands, as well as downpours that threaten to unleash flash floods and mudslides.
Forecasters say there is a chance the hurricane could brush the US Mid-Atlantic region toward the end of the week, with its closest approach to North Carolina on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Category 1 Hurricane Danielle was bringing dangerous rip currents to the US East Coast, though it was gradually weakening as it headed over the open Atlantic northeast of the British territory of Bermuda.
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