SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, (Reuters) – Tropical Storm Erika weakened to a tropical depression in the northeast Caribbean yesterday but still threatened Puerto Rico and neighboring islands with heavy rainfall, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Most government offices and schools closed early yesterday afternoon and Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuno urged residents to leave flood-prone areas before the storm struck the U.S. territory.
“We know from past experience, that this can have a significant impact for Puerto Ricans,” Fortuno said.
Erika’s top sustained winds dropped to 35 miles per hour (55 km per hour), putting it below the 39 miles-per-hour (63-km-per-hour) threshold for a tropical storm.
The centre of the ragged mass of thunderstorms was about 130 miles (205 km) east-southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT).
It was moving west but was expected to turn west-northwest on a course that would take it south of Puerto Rico last night and over the Dominican Republic and Haiti in the next two days.
Forecasters warned that the system could dump 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm) of rain on those in its path, with up to 6 inches (15 cm) in isolated areas.
The depression was expected to continue weakening and was not expected to affect oil and natural gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
