Hurricane Lee reached open waters northeast of the Caribbean region on Sunday night, causing massive flooding on several islands as it regained some strength and expanded in size.
The Category 3 hurricane is not expected to make landfall and is expected to remain over open waters until Friday. Late Sunday night, it was centered about 310 miles north of the northern Leeward Islands. Its maximum sustained winds were recorded at 120 mph and it was moving northwest at 8 mph.
Last week, Lee strengthened from a Category 1 hurricane to a Category 5 hurricane in just one day.
“We had perfect conditions for a hurricane: warm water and hardly any wind,” said Lee Ingalls, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in San Juan.
By Saturday night, it had slowed to a Category 2 hurricane, but began to strengthen again on Sunday. The US National Hurricane Center said Lee is expected to strengthen and then weaken in the coming days.
Lee’s center was also increasing in size, with hurricane-force winds extending outward up to 75 miles from the center and tropical storm-force winds extending outward up to 175 miles.
Waves as high as 20 feet were forecast to hit Puerto Rico and surrounding islands earlier this week, with officials warning people to stay out of the water. Coastal flooding was also expected along some areas of Puerto Rico’s north coast and east of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the National Weather Service in San Juan.
The National Hurricane Center said dangerous surf and swells were expected to hit much of the U.S. East Coast through Sunday, but the storm’s impact beyond that was still unclear.
“It is too early to know what level of impact Lee may have on the U.S. East Coast, Atlantic Canada or Bermuda, especially as the storm is expected to slow significantly over the southwestern Atlantic.” Center said.
Lee was forecast to move north by Wednesday. However, its path thereafter remained unclear.
“No matter what happens, Lee’s increase in size is expected to cause dangerous surf and rip currents along much of the U.S. East Coast this week,” the center said.
Lee is the 12th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30 and peaks on Sunday.
Tropical Storm Margot became the 13th named storm after forming Thursday evening, but it was far out in the Atlantic and posed no threat of landfall. Late Sunday night it was about 1,185 miles west-northwest of the Cape Verde Islands. Its winds were blowing at a speed of 65 miles per hour and it was forecast to turn into a hurricane by Monday night. It was moving north at a speed of 8 miles per hour.
In August the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted between 14 and 21 named storms this season. Six to 11 of them are expected to become hurricanes, and two to five of them could develop into major hurricanes.
In the Pacific, Jova weakened while moving over open waters just off the southwest coast of Mexico and posed no threat to land.