Residents in the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos braced yesterday for Hurricane Erin, a dangerous Category 4 storm and the first of the Atlantic season, after it strengthened over the weekend while sweeping past Caribbean islands.
While Erin is not on track to make direct landfall and has yet to cause major damage, its growing size and strength are threatening rough seas and have prompted some evacuation orders in parts of North Carolina, on the US East Coast.
“Erin’s already large size and intensity are acting like a giant plunger on the sea surface,” AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said in a report.
Sosnowski said Erin was among the fastest-strengthening storms on record after it intensified from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane, the highest level of the Saffir-Simpson scale, in just over 27 hours.
It makes 2025 the fourth straight Atlantic season with at least one Category 5 storm.
The US National Hurricane Centre said Erin, now a Category 4 storm, was likely to maintain its force as a dangerous major hurricane through the middle of the week, but avoid contact with Bermuda or the US coast.
Last night, the storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 210kph as it passed east of the Bahamas.
The Air Force Reserve and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hurricane hunters were currently investigating the system, the NHC said.
In Turks and Caicos, an overseas British territory, authorities suspended public services on its largest island and told residents in vulnerable areas to pack in case of evacuation.
The Bahamas’ meteorology department said the islands’ southeast, as well as Turks and Caicos, were experiencing tropical storm conditions, and warned that boats should not go out to sea until the end of the week.
“The seas could become extremely rough and dangerous during the swells,” it said.
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