Hurricane Erin intensifies into category 5 storm

Telegraph

10 hours ago

Hurricane Erin has turned into a Category 5 storm, rapidly powering up over the course of 24 hours, the National Hurricane Center said.
While the compact hurricane's centre was not expected to strike land, it threatened to dump flooding rains in the northeast Caribbean as it continued to grow larger.
The first Atlantic hurricane of 2025, Erin ramped up from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in a single day. By late Saturday morning, its maximum sustained winds had more than doubled to 160 mph (255 kph).
Mike Brennen, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said Erin grew into a 'very powerful hurricane', with its winds gaining 60mph (96kph) in about nine hours.
The storm was expected to double or even triple in size in the coming days.
Tropical storm watches were issued for St Martin, St Barts and St Maarten and the Hurricane Center warned that heavy rain in some areas could trigger flash flooding, landslides and mudslides. The Turks and Caicos Islands southeast of the Bahamas were also under a tropical storm watch.
Powerful rip currents could affect the US East Coast from Florida to the mid-Atlantic next week, despite the eye of the storm forecast to remain far offshore, Mr Brennan said.
The Hurricane Center said Erin should begin to slowly weaken Monday as the storm encounters increased wind shear.
Hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry said Erin gained strength at a pace that was 'incredible for any time of year, let alone August 16th'.
Lowry said only four other Category 5 hurricanes have been recorded in the Atlantic on or before August 16.
The most powerful storms tend to form later in the year, with the hurricane season typically peaking in mid-September.
In October 2005, Hurricane Wilma rocketed from a tropical storm to a Category 5 in less than 24 hours, according to National Hurricane Center advisories from that time. Wilma weakened to a Category 3 hurricane before striking Florida. And in October 2007, Hurricane Felix took just over a day to go from a tropical storm to Category 5.
Including Erin, there have been 43 hurricanes that have reached Category 5 status on record in the Atlantic, said Dan Pydynowski, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, a private forecasting company.
Erin is the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, and the first hurricane.
The 2025 season is expected to be unusually busy, with six to 10 hurricanes in the forecast including three to five reaching major status with winds of more than 110mph (177kph).
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, locals and tourists walked, exercised and shopped as usual Saturday. Restaurants were busy, and despite warnings to avoid beaches, people could be seen in the coastal waters. Parents kept their children from swimming, however.
Sarahí Torres and Joanna Cornejo, who were visiting from California for a Bad Bunny concert, said they decided to go to the beach and wade into the water because the skies appeared calm.
'The weather looked fine, so we came out,' Torres said.
The US government deployed more than 200 employees from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies to Puerto Rico as a precaution. Puerto Rico Housing Secretary Ciary Pérez Peña said 367 shelters were inspected and ready to open if needed.
Meanwhile officials in the Bahamas prepared some public shelters as a precaution as they urged people to monitor the hurricane.
'These storms are very volatile and can make sudden shifts in movement,' said Aarone Sargent, managing director for the Bahamas' disaster risk management authority.