Caribbean islands placed on weather alert
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC)— A hurricane or tropical storm watch could be issued for portions of the Lesser Antilles later Saturday as a tropical wave east of the Windward islands continue to show signs of strengthening, the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) has said.
It said that while the system, which is about 700 miles east of the Windward Islands – Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines – continues to show signs of organisation “it is unclear if the system has a well-defined centre of circulation.
“Environmental conditions are conducive for additional development and a tropical depression or tropical storm at any time today or on Sunday while the system moves west-north westward at 15 miles per hour,” the NHC said in its latest weather bulletin.
It said that hurricane or tropical storm watches could be issued for portions of the Leeward Islands on Saturday and “interests on those islands should closely the progress of this system”.
The warning comes as the Caribbean deals with the aftermath of Hurricane Irma that rampaged through the Leeward Islands last week, claiming at least 40 lives and destroying infrastructure in several islands including Barbuda, British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas.