Hurricane Lee was declared a “powerful” Category 5 storm on Friday and is expected to maintain its intensity as it moves through the Caribbean with “life-threatening” conditions.
The system will bring “dangerous beach conditions” to Caribbean islands today, then dangerous surf and rip currents along most of the US East Coast from Sunday, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its 5am advisory.
Lee was located 630 miles (1015km) east of the northern Leeward Islands with sustained winds of 165mph (270km/h).
Fluctuations in intensity are likely over the next few days, but Lee is expected to remain a major hurricane through early next week, NHC reported.
The storm is not expected to make landfall and pass well to the north of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico over the weekend and into early next week.
Lee is the 12th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from 1 June to 30 November.
