Hurricane Irene gathers strength on route to US
Tropical storm Irene strengthened into a hurricane yesterday after it began moving across Puerto Rico, bringing torrential rains and winds and threatening to move towards the US.
Earlier Irene downed trees and caused widespread power cuts in the US Virgin Islands.
After moving over Puerto Rico, Irene was expected to approach Hispaniola, the island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Nearly 600,000 people in Haiti still live without shelter after last year’s earthquake.
In the US, Irene, the first hurricane of the Atlantic hurricane season, was expected to affect Florida and could clip Georgia and the Carolinas.