Hurricane Bonnie stalled and powered up in the Atlantic Ocean east of the Bahamas yesterday and was expected to take a track that could carry it to landfall on the US east coast by midweek.
Bonnie's top winds hit 184 k.p.h. (115 m.p.h.) as it meandered near the Bahamas, making it a major hurricane capable of causing extensive damage. It was a large storm, covering more than 560 km from side to side, with rainbands spreading over the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and eastern Cuba.
Residents along the US east coast from Florida to the Carolinas were advised to keep abreast of the hurricane's movements and take precautions by boarding up windows and avoiding high water surges along the coast.
"It is intensifying," a National Hurricane Centre meteorologist, Dr Michele Huber, said. "It's hard to say where it's going right now because it's not really moving that much. But we expect it to move to the north-west."
By 4 p.m. Irish time yesterday, the eye of Bonnie was 296 km east of San Salvador in the Bahamas at latitude 24.2 north, longitude 71.6 west, the National Hurricane Centre said.
Its forward progress slowed overnight and forecasters said Bonnie was virtually stationary at midmorning.
Bonnie became a Category Three hurricane - one capable of causing extensive damage to population centres - with maximum sustained winds at 184 kph and higher gusts. With only open water on the hurricane's projected track to the US east coast, Bonnie could strengthen further, forecasters said.