Hurricane Erin becomes Category 5 hurricane, dangerous surf concerns

Hurricane Erin quickly became a Category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Scale on Saturday, Aug. 16. As of around 11 a.m. ET, Erin had maximum sustained winds of around 160 mph as it made its way through the Caribbean, according to the National Hurricane Center.

“We expect to see Erin peak here in intensity relatively soon,” Mike Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said in an online briefing reported on by The Associated Press.

Erin is now one of only six Atlantic hurricanes to see maximum winds of at least 145 mph since 1970, according to Meteorologist Philip Klotzbach. It’s also the first Atlantic storm of the season to make it to hurricane status, and the fifth to be named.

St. Martin/Sint Maarten and St. Barthelemy are currently under tropical storm warnings, though Erin is expected to remain offshore.

Once it leaves the Caribbean, Accuweather said, Erin will go toward the East Coast of the United States. Conditions are “conducive” to the storm getting even stronger in the near future, Accuweather said. 

AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva said warm waters, along with very little dry air and wind shear, created “near-perfect” conditions for the storm to rapidly intensify. He added that Erin will likely curve to the north, but still forecast that it will stay hundreds of miles off the East Coast, potentially creating massive and dangerous waves. 

“Beaches along the entire East Coast, from Florida to New England and Atlantic Canada, will likely experience rough surf and dangerous rip currents as Erin tracks north and eventually northeast,” DaSilva said.

The National Weather Service also warned of an increased threat life-threatening rip currents and damaging beach erosion.

Six seaports in Puerto Rico and two in the United States Virgin Islands were closed by the 

U.S. Coast Guard on Friday, Aug. 15, in anticipation of Hurricane Erin. 

More than 200 employees from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as other government personnel, were sent to Puerto Rico as a precautionary measure, the AP wrote. Puerto Rico Housing Secretary Ciary Pérez Peña said 367 shelters have been inspected and could be opened, and officials in the Bahamas prepared some shelters are well, per the AP.