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LAST UPDATE | 16 Aug
A TROPICAL STORM has gained pace and become a hurricane as it picks up power over the Atlantic on its path towards the Caribbean.
Hurricane Erin is expected to bring heavy rain to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico and potentially have knock-on effects on parts of the United States.
It was earlier categorised as a category two hurricane but strengthened rapidly this morning to a category three.
“Continued rapid strengthening is expected, and Erin is forecast to become a category four hurricane later today,” the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest bulletin.
The NHC said the storm’s maximum sustained winds had increased to 193 kilometres per hour by 9am GMT, making it a major hurricane.
Erin, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season this year, is expected to produce heavy rain for those areas throughout the weekend.
The NHC warned of possible “considerable flash and urban flooding,” along with landslides or mudslides.
A tropical storm watch was issued for Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Barthelmy and other islands.
“Steady to rapid strengthening is expected over the next few days, and Erin is forecast to become a major hurricane during the weekend,” the NHC said earlier, with Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas on the southern edge of its projected path.
The storm could drench the islands with as much as 15 centimetres of rain in isolated areas, it added.
Swells fueled by Erin are expected to affect parts of the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, and “are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” according to the NHC.
The hurricane is forecast to turn northward by late tomorrow. While meteorologists have expressed confidence that Erin will remain well off the US coastline, they said the storm may still cause dangerous waves and erosion in places in the US like North Carolina.
The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June until late November, is expected to be more intense than normal, US meteorologists predict.
Last year, several powerful storms wreaked havoc in the region, including Hurricane Helene, which killed more than 200 people in the southeastern United States.
As part of President Donald Trump’s plans to greatly reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — which operates the NHC — has been subject to budget cuts and layoffs, leading to fears of lapses in storm forecasting.
Climate change — namely, rising sea temperatures caused by the burning of fossil fuels — has increased both the possibility of the development of more intense storms, and their more rapid intensification.
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