Camille Naredo

Car drive through heavy fog as category 3 Hurricane Erin leaves the region in Cayey, Puerto Rico on August 16, 2025. Ricardo Arduengo, AFP

Car drive through heavy fog as category 3 Hurricane Erin leaves the region in Cayey, Puerto Rico on August 16, 2025. Offshore Hurricane Erin was downgraded to a Category 3 storm early Sunday, as rain lashed Caribbean islands and weather officials warned of possible flash floods and landslides.
The first hurricane of what is expected to be a particularly intense Atlantic season, Erin briefly strengthened into a "catastrophic" Category 5 storm before its windspeeds weakened. (Photo by Ricardo ARDUENGO / AFP)

Article (news)

Hurricane Erin

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1755582827920AFP__20250817__69RJ6E4__v1__MidRes__UsPuertoRicoWeatherHurricaneErin.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Car drive through heavy fog as category 3 Hurricane Erin leaves the region in Cayey, Puerto Rico on August 16, 2025. Ricardo Arduengo, AFP"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Car drive through heavy fog as category 3 Hurricane Erin leaves the region in Cayey, Puerto Rico on August 16, 2025. <em>Ricardo Arduengo, AFP</em></span></span></span></div><p>WASHINGTON -- Hurricane Erin&#x27;s massive footprint battered Caribbean islands with heavy gusts and downpours Monday, as it threatened rip currents and flooding along the US East Coast later this week even without a predicted landfall.</p><p>The Category 3 storm strengthened dramatically over the weekend in a historic burst of intensification scientists said was fueled by human-caused climate change. It briefly peaked as a Category 5 hurricane before weakening.</p><p>In its latest advisory the US National Hurricane Center said the Atlantic season&#x27;s first hurricane was packing maximum sustained winds of 125 miles (205 kilometers) per hour while moving northwest at 8 mph.</p><p>Erin is &quot;unusually large,&quot; with hurricane force winds extending 80 miles from the center and tropical storm winds extending 230 miles, the NHC said.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/8/18/hurricane-erin-restrengthens-as-it-lashes-caribbean-with-rain-1606">READ: Hurricane Erin restrengthens as it lashes Caribbean with rain</a></div><p>The storm&#x27;s outer bands were forecast to dump rain across Cuba and the Dominican Republic through Monday as well as the Turks and Caicos and the southeast Bahamas -- where a tropical storm warning is in place -- into Tuesday.</p><p>These regions could receive localized totals of up to four inches (10 centimeters) of rain, according to the NHC.</p><p>The agency&#x27;s deputy director, Jamie Rhome, warned Americans not to assume the hurricane won&#x27;t impact them simply because its track keeps it offshore.</p><p>&quot;Nothing could be further from the truth for portions of the Mid-Atlantic, especially the Outer Banks of North Carolina,&quot; he said. On Wednesday and Thursday, waves of up to 20 feet (six meters), coastal flooding and storm surge &quot;could overwash dunes and flood homes, flood roads and make some communities impassable,&quot; he said.</p><p>Evacuations have been ordered for two North Carolina islands, Ocracoke and Hatteras.</p><p>From Tuesday, much of the East Coast will face a high risk of life-threatening surf and rip currents, which occur when channels of water surge away from the shore.</p><p>In Puerto Rico, a US territory of more than three million people, weekend flooding swamped homes and roads in the island&#x27;s east, and widespread power outages left residents in the dark, though nearly all service has since been restored.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>- Climate link -</strong></div><script data-wid="auto" type="text/javascript" src="https://content.viralize.tv/display/?zid=AAFz86TOfDIfqXIe&amp;cid=ABe6U9MhmsFyGIrV"></script><p>&quot;Erin is one of the fastest, most intensifying storms in the modern record,&quot; Daniel Gilford, a climate scientist at the nonprofit Climate Central, told AFP.</p><p>&quot;We see that it has intensified over these warm surface temperatures -- and this makes a lot of sense, because we know that hurricanes act like heat engines taking up energy from the ocean surface, converting that energy into winds.&quot;</p><p>According to Climate Central, Erin traveled over waters whose extreme warmth was made up to 100 times more likely through climate change.</p><p>The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, has now entered its historical peak.</p><p>Despite a relatively quiet start with just four named storms so far, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) continues to forecast an &quot;above-normal&quot; season.</p><p>A typical season produces 14 named storms, of which seven become hurricanes and three strengthen into major hurricanes.</p><p>This year, tropical activity is expected to be elevated by a combination of warmer-than-average sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean, along with an active West African monsoon, NOAA said.</p><p>Scientists broadly agree that climate change is supercharging tropical cyclones: warmer oceans fuel stronger winds, a warmer atmosphere intensifies rainfall, and higher sea levels magnify storm surge.</p><p>Climate change may also be making hurricanes more frequent.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>Hurricane Erin's massive footprint battered Caribbean islands with heavy gusts and downpours Monday, as it threatened rip currents and flooding along the US East Coast later this week even without a predicted landfall.</p>

Hurricane Erin's massive footprint battered Caribbean islands with heavy gusts and downpours Monday, as it threatened rip currents and flooding along the US East Coast later this week even without a predicted landfall.

Hurricane Erin douses Caribbean, menaces US coast

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Hurricane Erin douses Caribbean, menaces US coast

Agence France-Presse,

Issam Ahmed

Published August 19, 2025 02:20 PM PHT

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Hurricane Erin

weather

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