Tropical storm Irma became a hurricane on Thursday in the Atlantic and will become extremely dangerous in the next few days, as it moves into the Caribbean, US meteorologists reported.
Irma is intensifying rapidly over the eastern Atlantic,”
said the National Hurricane Center (NHC), which issued no warnings for any coastline.
The storm formed on Wednesday west of Cape Verde and is currently 2,975 km from the Lesser Antilles with maximum sustained winds of 155 km/h.
In NHC terminology, a hurricane is “important” when it reaches Category 3, on a scale from 1 to 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
According to the NHC’s projected path, Irma will approach the Lesser Antilles by next week, although it is still unknown if it will represent a threat.
The Weather Channel also reported that Irma could be a “formidably intense” hurricane next week, although it is not yet clear if it will directly hit the eastern Caribbean islands.
Irma is the fourth hurricane of the season after Harvey, which currently wreaks havoc on the coast of the US Gulf of Mexico, where until Thursday he has left at least 33 dead and damages estimated at millions of dollars.