Islands in the Eastern Caribbean are set for torrential rainfall, landslides, strong winds, and flooding as Tropical Storm Bret grows stronger on Wednesday.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami reported that Bret recorded maximum sustained winds of 60 mph early Wednesday morning and was moving westward across the Atlantic Ocean at 14 mph.
Tropical Storm Bret was located about 470 miles east of Barbados and is forecasted to grow stronger before hammering down on several eastern Caribbean islands on Thursday and over the next couple of days at near hurricane strength.
Authorities in Barbados, Martinique, and Dominica have urged people to prepare for Bret after a tropical storm watch was put up for the region. A tropical storm warning was issued for St. Lucia.
The hurricane center also said that a special Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft will investigate the storm later Wednesday and give a better estimate of the intensity of Tropical Storm Bret.
“We all know the uncertainty with forecasting intensity, movement, and impact of weather systems,” Fitzroy Pascal at Dominica’s office of disaster management said.
Winds are expected to rise to 65 mph over the next 12 hours, making it a strong tropical storm but below the 74 mph level to become a hurricane. The hurricane center also said it was too soon to know where Bret’s center would pass through,
They, however, said that up to 10 inches of rain were forecast to fall from the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe south to Grenada and Barbados.
The storm will disrupt the flight schedule of airlines on Thursday and Friday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasted 12 to 17 named storms for this year’s hurricane season. It is estimated that about five and nine of those storms could become hurricanes, including up to four major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.
Tropical Storm Bret will not reach the United States. Forecasts say it will weaken then dissipate over the Caribbean Sea before reaching the Gulf of Mexico because of the far distance.
However, the National Weather Service in San Juan said that some clouds, showers, and thunderstorms are possible in Puerto Rico from Bret.