The hurricane is not expected to make landfall but will generate ‘life-threatening surf and rip currents’ along much of the U.S. East Coast.
Hurricane Erin was downgraded overnight, although it is growing in size after it spent Friday night and Saturday transforming from a tropical storm into a Category 5 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in updates.
Late Saturday into early Sunday, Erin’s wind speeds were reported to have eased, leading to the downgrade to a Category 4 and then Category 3 storm, as the system passed over the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, according to a 2 a.m. ET update.
Wind speeds remain formidable, with maximum sustained speeds coming in at 125 mph, down from 160 mph, the Miami-based NHC said.
It is not expected to make landfall, although it will likely “produce life-threatening surf and rip currents” for landmasses in the region this week, including along much of the U.S. East Coast from Florida to the mid-Atlantic.
“Locally considerable flash and urban flooding, along with landslides or mudslides, are possible,” the NHC said.
A Category 4 storm has the potential to cause “catastrophic damage,” while a Category 3 storm—with windspeed between 111 to 129 mph—has the potential to cause “devastating damage.”
The National Weather Service in San Juan had issued an alert for Saturday night for nearly two-thirds of Puerto Rico, warning of 50 mph winds. Power was knocked out to about 130,000 customers in the territory.
Despite the downgrade, the forecaster said that Erin is in the process of growing to become “a larger system.”
This matched the center’s earlier 11 p.m. assessment. “A recent scatterometer pass indicates that Erin’s outer-core is growing in size, and the models remain in strong agreement that the system will grow further the next several days,” it said.
“In fact, by the middle of next week, Erin is forecast to at least double or triple in size, which will result in rough ocean conditions over the western Atlantic.”
By Melanie Sun
