[Here is the latest coverage on Hurricane Dorian as it batters the Bahamas.]

With Tropical Storm Dorian nearing Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands on Wednesday, and then possibly bound for Florida or Georgia as a hurricane over the Labor Day holiday weekend, officials are warning residents to have their evacuation plans in place.

Forecasters have described Dorian as a compact storm whose path has been difficult to predict with precision. It is expected to bring heavy rainfall and high winds to Puerto Rico on Wednesday afternoon, and the island has declared a state of emergency. As the storm continues northwestward, it could develop into a Category 2 hurricane and approach the southeastern United States.

[What do storm categories mean? Here’s what you need to know.]

“Anywhere from South Carolina — the Carolinas — down to Georgia and almost the entire coastline of Florida, you need to have your plans ready,” Ken Graham, the director of the National Hurricane Center, said on Wednesday morning. He said that the center of the hurricane could arrive “in any one of those areas,” though no evacuations had yet been ordered.

When a hurricane is poised to make landfall and the authorities issue an evacuation order, you may not have much time before you leave to protect your home from the storm — and from flooding.