Hurricane Erin has become stronger for a category 4 storm as it threatens to bring deadly surf and rip streams on the eastern coast of the United States.
The rains caused by the storm have already started hitting the Southeast Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands, where a tropical storm warning is under warning.
While Erin is not expected to make landfalls on the islands, it is expected to bring rains up to six inches (15.2 cm) for Turks and Cacos and Eastern Bahamas.
Erin, the first storm of the 2025 Atlantic season, “explosively deep and intense” in a category 5 storm on Saturday, before losing force and now before gaining strength.
According to local energy company Luma, more than 150,000 people were abandoned without electricity in Puerto Rico after high winds damaged power lines.
But the firm said that it had made emergency repairs and local closing on Sunday evening, 95% of the customers had electricity.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that the outer rain band of the storm has started affecting Bahamas.
While the storm is not expected to hit the islands directly, the country’s disaster risk management authority encouraged the residents to prepare.
Its managing director, Aaron Sergeant, asked the Bahamanian to investigate which shelters were with him and to ensure that they knew about alternative shelters that one should be a complete first.
“These storms are very unstable and can suddenly change the movement,” he said.
The NHC’s forecast is for the origin of Erin today to pass in the east of the southeast Bahamas and go between the Bermuda and the eastern coast of the United States by the middle of the week.
It also said that Erin will be “a big and dangerous storm” through this time.
External banks – a string of islands away from the coast of Northern Carolina – are already breaking for heavy surf and high winds.
Officials there have ordered a compulsory withdrawal of Hetras Island, which warns that the main highway connecting Haters to other islands may be irrelevant.
The forecasts have also warned of dangerous rip tides that can affect the entire American east coast.
