Washington [US], August 18: Hurricane Erin, the first hurricane of this year's Atlantic season, is a Category 3, the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, downgrading the storm from Category 4 as the wind speed eased slightly.
The storm was 530kmsoutheast of Grand Turk Island packing maximum sustained winds of 205 kph, the NHC added early on Sunday. The hurricane had been gauged as high as a catastrophic Category 5 with maximum sustained winds of 240 kph, then downgraded to a Category 4. It had earlier been forecast to strengthen into this week.
On Sunday, Erin was moving west-northwest at nearly 14 mph (22 kph) with a decrease in forward speed expected on Sunday and a turn to the north on Monday and Tuesday, the NHC said. Swells generated by Erin will continue to affect parts of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands, the NHC said. (Agencies)
Source: Qatar Tribune
