Hurricane Danny weakens to a Category 1 storm

Danica Coto | Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A weakening Hurricane Danny approached Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands on Saturday, but was expected to bring little relief to residents of the drought-stricken northern Caribbean.

The Category 1 hurricane was located 600 miles (1,060 kilometers) east of the Leeward Islands late Saturday morning, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (150 kph). It was traveling west-northwest at 12 mph (19 kph). The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said it expected Danny would become a tropical storm sometime Sunday.

Danny was expected to pass over Antigua and Barbuda early Monday and reach the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico early Tuesday.

Meteorologists said it was too early to predict how much rainfall Danny would generate over Puerto Rico, which has implemented extreme water-rationing measures since May as it struggles with one of the worst droughts in its history.

“This storm has created a lot of expectations,” said Carlos Anselmi with the National Weather Service in San Juan. “But we cannot talk about how much rainfall is expected because the storm is quite small. There’s a lot of uncertainty still.”

Danny had been expected to hit Puerto Rico’s southeast coast, but forecasters said the storm instead was likely to glance the island’s northeast region and drop the heaviest rains over open waters north of the U.S. territory.

The news was disheartening for Puerto Rico residents such as 88-year-old Gloria Rodriguez, who has struggled with water-rationing measures in which hundreds of thousands of people receive water only twice a week.

“We’re asking God to bring us water and not destruction,” she said. “This is what we’re all hoping for.”

Nearly 25 percent of Puerto Rico is considered to be in an extreme drought, and another 45 percent is under a severe one, according to The National Drought Mitigation Center. A total of 2.9 million people in Puerto Rico have been affected, and U.S. officials have declared at least 20 of the island’s 78 municipalities as disaster zones.

Anselmi said Danny was expected to dump more rain over the U.S. Virgin Islands than Puerto Rico, especially on the islands of St. Thomas and St. John.

The approaching storm forced Antigua-based airline LIAT to cancel nearly 40 flights from Sunday to Tuesday, and officials with regional carrier Seaborne Airlines also warned of delays and cancelations.

A tropical storm watch was in effect for Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla, St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius.