SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Islanders set up emergency shelters and canceled flights on Sunday as newly born Hurricane Earl churned toward the northern Caribbean. Cruise lines diverted ships to avoid the storm’s path. 

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said that Earl, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph), could hit the northern Leeward Islands as soon as Sunday night. It could become a major hurricane by Tuesday — probably while north of Puerto Rico.

This NOAA satellite image taken Saturday, August 28, 2010 at 1:45 PM EDT shows a swirl of clouds in the Atlantic Ocean associated with Hurricane Danielle. The storm will move northeastward for the next few days and is not expected to impact any major landmasses. Clouds associated with Tropical Storm Earl are a few hundred miles east of the Lesser Antilles. This storm will move west northwestward over the next few days and poses a threat to some Caribbean Islands. (AP Photo/Weather Underground)

People on several islands stuffed shopping carts with bottled water, canned food, milk, candles and batteries, while some tourists scrambled to board flights home. Others enjoyed the beach while they could.

“I’m just trying get a good suntan in while the weather is still cooperating,” said Linda Curren of New York City, sunbathing on San Juan’s Ocean Park beach as a few surfers paddled into pounding waves.

In Antigua, the V.C. Bird International Airport was set to close Sunday, while regional airline LIAT suspended several flights. Cruise ships diverted to other ports in the Caribbean and Mexico.

Hardware stores were doing 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.

Fishermen and yacht owners tied down vessels in harbors scattered the northern Caribbean.

“We’re watching and waiting at this point,” said June Otway, a manager of Puerto Del Rey, a 1,100-slip marina in northeastern Puerto Rico.

Earl could bring battering waves and storm surge of up to three feet (one meter) above normal tide levels in some areas, according to forecasters. Heavy rains could cause flash floods and mudslides. Forecasters said Earl had several bands of thunderstorms wrapped around its center.

Early Sunday afternoon, Earl was about 190 miles (310 kilometers) east of Antigua, where the storm’s outer bands were starting to bring rain. Hurricane force winds extended outward up to 30 miles (45 kilometers) from its center.

Forecasters said there is a chance the hurricane could brush the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region toward the end of the week, with its closest approach to North Carolina on Thursday.

In any case, the U.S. East Coast is likely to see pounding surf from Earl.

Meanwhile, the Category 1 Hurricane Danielle was bringing dangerous rip currents to the U.S. East Coast. It was gradually weakening as it headed over the open Atlantic northeast of the British territory of Bermuda. AP 

-

Live 24 Hour-to-Hour Satellite Radar Storm Tracker

Surfspots-GPS Worldwide Ocean & Surf Reports
Satellite and Radar Image Animation

SURFSPOTS-GPS.COM

   

BIG WAVE eXtreme surfing

International News Magazine