Warnings and watches lit up across the Caribbean on Monday as Hurricane Maria gained strength and roared toward islands already hobbled by the carnage of Hurricane Irma.

Maria, which grew to a Category 3 hurricane Monday morning, had maximum sustained winds of of 120 mph at 11 a.m. ET. It is still too early to determine whether the storm will impact the U.S. East Coast and any threat would not be until early next week, but a strike on Florida is still a possibility.

“We may luck out and it turns north before reaching Florida,” AccuWeather meteorologist Dave Samuhel said. “Unfortunately, it looks like blocking high pressure could force it into Florida. Definitely something we are watching.”

The center of Maria will move across the Leeward Islands late Monday and then slam through the extreme northeastern Caribbean Sea on Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Additional rapid strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours, the hurricane center said. By later Tuesday, Maria should have winds of 150 mph, making it a Category 4 hurricane.

“This storm promises to be catastrophic for our island,” said Ernesto Morales of the National Weather Service in San Juan. “All of Puerto Rico will experience hurricane-force winds.”

But first, the U.S. Virgin Islands likely will face “at least a glancing blow if not a full-on landfall” late Tuesday or early Wednesday, said Dave Samuhel, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather.

On St. John’s, the smallest of the U.S. Virgin Islands, people lined up to flee the storm. Irma blasted across the island Sept. 7, a Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 185 mph. Homes and businesses were blown apart and power is expected to be out for months.

Puerto Rico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic could see Maria’s wrath on Wednesday. Puerto Rico President Ricardo Rossello said the government has prepared hundreds of shelters capable of housing more than 100,000 evacuees if necessary.

A potential impact on the East Coast will depend on steering currents in the upper atmosphere over the western Atlantic and the eastern U.S. that can’t be determined more than a week in advance, according to the Weather Channel.

Hurricane Jose threatens East Coast

Meanwhile, Hurricane Jose’s 75 mph sustained winds will continue to bring rip currents and rough surf to the U.S. East Coast over the next several days.

Tropical-storm warnings have been posted along the southeastern New England coast, including most of the Rhode Island and Massachusetts coastline.

“Coastlines from North Carolina to southern New England are in for a long period of rough surf and an increasing risk of beach erosion,” said Weather Underground meteorologist Bob Henson. “If Jose were to make landfall, it could end up producing significant surge even as a post-tropical storm,” he said.

Jose will produce heavy rain as it passes near southern New England and the mid-Atlantic on Tuesday and Wednesday, the hurricane center said. Total accumulations of 3 to 5 inches are expected.

The hurricane center said the center of Jose was forecast to pass well offshore of the Outer Banks of North Carolina on Monday, east of the Delmarva peninsula overnight and Tuesday and east of the New Jersey coast on Wednesday.

Contributing: Rick Jervis; The Associated Press

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/09/18/hurricane-maria-grows-stronger-marches-toward-irma-battered-islands/676350001/

The post Hurricane Maria grows to Category-3 major hurricane, ‘promises to be catastrophic’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Water levels are already rising on the coast of the US state where a huge storm surge is expected.

Some 6.3 million people had been told to evacuate, but the state governor said on Saturday it was now too late to leave for anyone remaining.

At least 24 people have died after Irma earlier hit several Caribbean islands.

With maximum sustained winds of 120mph (193km/h), Irma hurricane has now weakened to a category three hurricane after making landfall in Cuba’s north-east late on Friday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) says in its latest advisory at 03:00 GMT on Sunday.

But Irma is expected to strengthen and will remain a powerful hurricane as it approaches Florida, the NHC says.

It warns that a “life-threatening storm surge” is expected in the Florida Keys – a chain of small islands in Florida’s south – and also the west coast of Florida.

What is happening in Florida?
Irma is predicted to hit the coast on Sunday morning, but the outer bands are already affecting the south of the state and central Miami is being lashed by heavy rain.

The Florida Keys have suffered some minor damage and are expected to bear the brunt of the storm in the coming hours.

The head of emergencies agency Fema, Brock Long, told CNN there were “no safe areas within the Keys”.

“You put your life in your own hands by not evacuating,” he added.

“If you’re in an evacuation zone, you’ve got to get to a shelter need to get to a shelter… there’s not many hours left”, Florida Governor Rick Scott warned residents.

“The winds are coming, there is not gonna be a lot of time now to be able to drive very far.”

Thousands of people on the mainland are currently without electricity.

The western Gulf coast is expected to be worst affected, with cities such as Tampa and St Petersburg in the path of the storm.

The Tampa Bay area, with a population of about three million, has not been hit by a major hurricane since 1921.

Some 50,000 people have gone to shelters throughout the state, the governor said. Media reports say shelters in some areas have been filling up quickly and some people have been turned away.

Miami city and Broward county have imposed curfews to help clear the roads of traffic.

Which other areas have already been hit?

–Cuba: Officials have reported “significant damage”, without giving further details, but said there were no confirmed casualties yet, the AFP news agency reports

–St Martin and St Barthelemy: Six out of 10 homes on St Martin, an island shared between France and the Netherlands, now uninhabitable, French officials say. They said nine people had died and seven were missing in the French territories, while two are known to have died in Dutch Sint Maarten

–Turks and Caicos Islands: Widespread damage, although extent unclear

–Barbuda: The small island is said to be “barely habitable”, with 95% of the buildings damaged. Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne estimates reconstruction will cost $100m (£80m). One death has been confirmed

–Anguilla: Extensive damage with one person confirmed dead

–Puerto Rico: More than 6,000 residents of the US territory are in shelters and many more without power. At least three people have died

–British Virgin Islands:Widespread damage reported, and five dead

–US Virgin Islands: Damage to infrastructure was said to be widespread, with four deaths confirmed

–Haiti and the Dominican Republic: Both battered by the storm, but neither had as much damage as initially feared

What about Hurricanes Jose and Katia?
Another storm, Jose, further out in the Atlantic behind Irma, is now a category four hurricane, with winds of up to 145mph.

It is following a similar path to Irma and already hampering relief efforts in some of the worst affected areas.

Residents of Barbuda, left the island as Jose approached but it is no longer expected to hit.

However, hurricane warnings are in place for St Martin and St Barthelemy, both also hit by Irma.

Hurricane Katia, in the Gulf of Mexico, a category one storm with winds of up to 75mph, made landfall on the Mexican Gulf coast in the state of Veracruz late on Friday.

It has now weakened to a tropical depression.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41216890

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