Earl reaches Category 4 strength

MIAMI, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Hurricane Earl bulked up to Category 4 status Monday afternoon as it churned to the north of Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands, forecasters said.

In its 5 p.m. EDT advisory, the National Hurricane Center in Miami warned Earl had increased from a Category 2 storm and was producing maximum sustained winds of 135 miles per hour about 110 miles northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The storm was moving to the west-northwest at 15 mph.

The government off the Bahamas issued a tropical storm warning for the Turks and Caicos Islands, with a watch out for the southeastern Bahamas.

However, the government of Antigua and Barbuda lowered its hurricane warning for the British Virgin Islands to a tropical storm warning, and dropped its tropical warning for Anguilla. Likewise, the government of the Netherlands Antilles discontinued its hurricane warning for St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius, and France was on the verge of ending its hurricane warning for Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy.

The hurricane watch for Puerto Rico was discontinued, as was a hurricane warning for the U.S. Virgin Islands, Culebra and Vieques, which remained under a tropical storm warning.

Earl is expected to move away from the Virgin Islands Monday night and pass east of the Turks and Caicos Islands Tuesday night and Wednesday. Under current projections, it appears it could eventually strike the vicinity of the Carolinas and Virginia as it chugs up the East Coast, forecasters said.

Storm surge could raise water levels 3 to 5 feet, mainly near the coast, in portions of the hurricane-warning area, and 1 to 3 feet in the tropical storm-warning area, forecasters said. A surge is accompanied by large and dangerous waves.

Earl was expected to produce 4 to 8 inches of rain over the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, the hurricane center said. The rain could create conditions for flash floods and mudslides.

Hurricane Danielle was demoted to a tropical storm Monday in the northern Atlantic Ocean, the hurricane center said. Dropping from a Category 1 hurricane early in the day, Danielle diminished to a tropical storm with 70 mph winds in the open Atlantic about 425 miles south-southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland, the hurricane center said.