The powerful Hurricane Erin continues its progression on Monday near the Bahamas and is accompanied by powerful gusts and intense rains. The threat of destructive waves on the American coast is growing.
Raclated to category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale which has five, Erin evolves in the Caribbean region with winds up to 205 km/h, according to the latest Bulletin of the American Hurricane Center (NHC) at 3 h (UTC).
Erin is unusual
blowing gusts of the power of a hurricane up to almost 130 kilometers beyond his eye, and the order of a tropical storm up to 370 kilometers, according to the NHC.
Hurricane Erin, who is the first hurricane of the 2025 season in the Atlantic, was demoted in category 3.
Photo : I’m reuthors /NOAA/NOAA
Strong localized showers linked to its passage were expected on Monday in southeast Bahamas, the Turkish islands and caicos archipelago as well as in Haiti and in the Dominican Republic, with a risk of floods.
After tapping the Bahamas, he had to operate a turn to the north on Tuesday and then pass between the east coast of the United States and the Bermuda in the middle of the week.
Although it is not planned that it touches Earth, the weather services urged the American population on Monday afternoon not to take this hurricane lightly.
Many of you may think that Erin’s offshore track will have little or no impact in the coming days on the east coast of the United States. Nothing could be more false.
Large waves
Dangerous currents as well as powerful waves up to 6 meters in height are indeed expected, running the risk of coastal floods, especially on a chain of islands bordering the North Carolina. In anticipation, certain areas have been subject to evacuation orders.
Hurricane Erin had come closer during the northern weekend of small Antilles and Puerto Rico, causing material damage. In this American territory devastated in 2017 by Hurricane Maria, houses and roads were overwhelmed by waters.
The powerful winds also slept trees on the road, and 150,000 households had been deprived of current on Sunday. Other cuts occurred on Monday, said local electricity company Luma, while ensuring that the service had been restored for more than 90 % of its customers.
The fishermen take advantage of the Río Grande de Arecibo after the passage of Hurricane Erin, to Puerto Rico, on August 17, 2025.
Photo : Getty Images / RICARDO ARDUENGO
First hurricane of the season in the North Atlantic, Erin very quickly strengthened, reaching a little more than 24 hours the maximum level of intensity.
One of the strongest and fastest intensifications never recorded
underlined Daniel Gilford, climatologist at Climate Central.
According to the analyzes carried out by this organization, Erin crossed in the Atlantic Ocean of exceptionally hot waters which allowed such a rise in power.
We know that hurricanes act as thermal engines that absorb energy from the ocean surface and convert it into winds.
By warming the seas, climate change makes it more likely the rapid intensification of such storms and increases the risk of more powerful phenomena, according to scientists.
Despite calm beginnings, the hurricane season, which stretches from early June to the end of November, should this year be more intense than normal, according to forecasts by the American weather authorities.
In 2024, the region had been marked by several deadly storms, including Hurgagan Hélène who left more than 200 people in the south-east of the United States.