The Bahamas were under storm warnings yesterday as Tropical Storm Dennis gained strength offshore and forecasters warned it could reach the US east coast this weekend.
Dennis, one of three tropical storms threatening the Caribbean and United States, prompted warnings for the tiny islands of the northern Bahamas to the neighbouring British colony Turks and Caicos Islands.
Dennis's top winds gained strength to 65 m.p.h. as of 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), up from 45 m.p.h. yesterday morning. Dennis was likely to grow into a hurricane with winds exceeding 74 m.p.h. last night or today, the US National Hurricane Centre said.
The Bahamian government issued a hurricane watch and tropical storm warning for the central Bahamas, and a hurricane watch for the north-western Bahamas. Warnings alert residents to imminent storm conditions, while watches indicate the possibility of storm conditions within 36 hours.
A tropical storm warning remained in effect for the south-eastern Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands.
At 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), the centre of Dennis was at latitude 23.1 north, longitude 72.1 west, about 365 miles east-south-east of Nassau, capital of the chain of some 700 islands stretching from just off the Florida coast to north of Haiti.
US forecasters said the storm could be in the vicinity of the US east coast by the weekend.
While Dennis posed the most immediate threat to land, forecasters yesterday also kept a close watch on two other tropical storms: Emily and Cindy.
Emily formed on Tuesday east of the southern Caribbean islands. At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), its centre was about 305 miles east of Barbados at latitude 13.1 north, longitude 55.1 west, the hurricane centre said.
Forecasters said the storm is moving north-west at about 6 m.p.h., and had maximum sustained winds of about 45 m.p.h. Cindy, which gained hurricane strength briefly on the weekend, continued to move through the Atlantic far from land.
At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), its centre was about 1,030 miles east of the Leeward Islands at latitude 19.6 north, longitude 46.3 west, the National Hurricane Centre said. It was moving toward the west-north-west at about 15 m.p.h. with maximum winds of about 65 m.p.h. and was expected to strengthen in the next 24 hours.