Beach chairs are seen at a beach as hurricane Irma approaches Puerto Rico in San Juan on September 5, 2017. AFP/Ricardo Arduengo
For the second time in a month, flood and mudslide watches are going out across Puerto Rico and the British and U.S. Virgin Islands as "disheveled” Tropical Storm Karen makes a sweeping northward turn in the Caribbean and bears down on the islands of about 3.3 million people.
Karen’s top winds are hovering at about 40 miles (64 kilometers) per hour, just above the threshold for a tropical-storm classification. It may be downgraded to a weaker tropical depression later on Monday as the storm churns in the Caribbean about 195 miles south of St. Croix, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said in an 11 a.m. advisory. In either category, Karen will dump rain over the islands.
"The main issues are locally heavy rainfall,” said Adam Douty, a meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania. "Flash flooding is going to be the main concern.”
Karen is one of 12 Atlantic storms that have formed this year, which equals the output of an average hurricane season. It will likely follow a track similar to Hurricane Dorian, which slipped between Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Dorian then moved west into the Bahamas with record force, killing at least 50 people. It eventually scraped the U.S. East Coast, causing flooding.
‘Disheveled’
Wind shear and dry air kept Karen "quite disheveled-looking,” Stacy Stewart, a forecaster at the National Hurricane Center, said in a report. There is a chance Karen may collapse, while its threat persists.
"Regardless of Karen’s status as a tropical cyclone, this system is expected to bring tropical-storm-force winds, heavy rainfall, flash floods and mudslides to Puerto Rico and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands on Tuesday,” Daniel Brown, a meteorologist at the center, said in the 11 a.m. advisory.
Once Karen passes Puerto Rico, there is chance it makes a westward turn, heading toward the Bahamas and the U.S. It is too early for a precise forecast.
To the east, forecasters are tracking Tropical Storm Lorenzo, which is forecast to become a hurricane and drift into central Atlantic away from land later this week. To the north, Tropical Storm Jerry is forecast to sweep north of Bermuda as it heads out to sea.
