NASSAU, Bahamas — Tropical Storm Hanna knocked out power to the southern Bahamas on Wednesday, and officials from Nassau to South Carolina warned residents to prepare for possible evacuations as it moves north and grows into a hurricane.
The storm, packing 65-mph winds, turned to the northwest after lingering for days near Haiti, where it caused flooding that killed 26 people.
As Hanna took aim at the heart of this Atlantic archipelago, islanders were also tracking two other storms churning westward in the open ocean — Hurricane Ike and Tropical Storm Josephine.
Late Wednesday, forecasters said Hurricane Ike had strengthened to a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds near 135 mph.
The U.S. Hurricane Center said it is too early to say whether Ike will threaten land. It is the third major hurricane of the Atlantic season, after Bertha and Gustav.
Forecasters say Josephine, the tropical storm behind Ike, is weakening.
“We’ve got three of them on the way. We’ve just got to be prepared,” said Frank Augustine, a 47-year-old convenience-store manager, as he bought 10 five-gallon water jugs at a Nassau depot.
But the National Hurricane Center in Miami warned that Hanna’s reach was expanding, with tropical-storm-force winds extending up to 290 miles from the center, and could become a hurricane today.
Forecasters said Hanna could bring moderate to heavy rains to the east coast of Florida by Friday morning. Long-range forecasts call for the storm to hit anywhere from Georgia to North Carolina on Saturday and curve along the U.S. Atlantic coast. The Associated Press
