Puerto Rico Activates National Guard as Storm Approaches

Puerto Rico activated the National Guard and canceled the start of classes in public schools as forecasters warned that the US territory would be hit by Tropical Storm Ernesto, which formed in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday. Tropical storm warnings were in effect for Puerto Rico, the US and British Virgin Islands, Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, St. Martin, and St. Barts and St. Maarten, the AP reports. Ernesto is the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Officials in the French Caribbean said the storm was expected to drench Guadeloupe on Monday and pass near St. Barts and St. Martin.

The National Hurricane Center said Ernesto is forecast to approach Puerto Rico and the US and British Virgin Islands on Tuesday evening. Forecasters warned the storm is expected to unleash floods and landslides. "We cannot let our guard down," Nino Correa, Puerto Rico's emergency management commissioner, said at a news conference. Ernesto is expected to become a hurricane early Thursday as it turns north toward Bermuda, with some forecasters warning it could strengthen into a major Category 3 storm. It is not expected to come close to the mainland US, reports the Washington Post.

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