Tropical Storm Ernesto drenches northeast Caribbean and takes aim at Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Tropical Storm Ernesto battered the northeast Caribbean on Tuesday as it took aim at Puerto Rico, where officials shuttered schools, opened shelters and helped move dozens of the U.S. territory's endangered parrots into hurricane-proof rooms.

Ernesto is expected to become a hurricane early Wednesday, prompting forecasters to issue a hurricane watch for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands as well as the tiny Puerto Rican islands of Vieques and Culebra.

“Ernesto could be near or at hurricane strength in about 24 hours,” the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said in an advisory issued late Tuesday morning.

The storm is forecast to move over or near the U.S. Virgin Islands on Tuesday evening and pass just northeast and north of Puerto Rico late Tuesday and early Wednesday.

Heavy rains began pelting Puerto Rico before the storm, and strong winds churned the ocean into a milky turquoise as people rushed to finish securing their homes and businesses.

“I'm hoping it will go away quickly,” said José Rodríguez, 36, as he climbed on the roof of his uncle's wooden shack in the Afro-Caribbean community of Piñones on Puerto Rico's north coast to secure the business famous for its fried street food.

Ernesto was located about 155 miles (250 kilometers) east-southeast of St. Croix on Tuesday morning. It had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 18 mph (30 kph).

“It will bring heavy rains,” Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said as he urged people to seek shelter by early Tuesday evening.

He activated the National Guard as crews across the island visited flood-prone areas and older residents as part of last-minute preparations.

As intermittent rain pelted Puerto Rico's northeast region, residents in the impoverished community of Piñones tried to squeeze in a couple more hours of work before the storm.

María Abreu, 25, prepared fried pastries stuffed with shrimp, crab, chicken and even iguana meat as she waited for her first customers.

“They always come. They buy them in case the power goes out,” she said.

Further down the road, Juan Pizarro, 65, picked nearly 100 coconuts from palm trees swaying in the strong breeze with help from a friend before the storm arrived. He had already secured his house.

“I'm ready for anything,” he said.

Forecasters have warned of waves of up to 20 feet (six feet), widespread flooding and possible landslides, with six to eight inches (15-20 centimeters) of rain forecast for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) in isolated areas. The looming rains come as Puerto Rico faces six reservoirs that already were overflowing before the storm.

Tropical storm warnings were in place for Puerto Rico, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, Guadeloupe, St. Martin, St. Barts and St. Maarten.

Officials in Puerto Rico warned of widespread power outages given the U.S. territory’s crumbling electric grid, which crews are still repairing after Hurricane Maria razed it in September 2017 as a Category 4 storm.

“That’s a reality,” said Juan Saca, president of Luma Energy, a private company that operates the transmission and distribution of power in Puerto Rico.

Outages also were a concern in the neighboring U.S. Virgin Islands for similar reasons, with blackouts reported on St. Thomas and St. John on Monday before the storm.

“Don't sleep on this,” said U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr., whose administration announced early Tuesday that it was closing all schools.

Early Tuesday, Ernesto drenched the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, where officials closed several main roads, urged people to stay indoors and warned that the quality of potable water would be affected for several days.

Ernesto is the fifth named storm of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season. It is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane early Wednesday as the center of the storm moves just north of Puerto Rico on a path toward Bermuda.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record warm ocean temperatures. It forecasted 17 to 25 named storms, with four to seven major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.