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Emily prompts storm alerts in east Caribbean

Posted on: Tuesday, 12 July 2005, 11:21 CDT

MIAMI (Reuters) - Hurricane alerts were issued on Tuesday for some of the small islands of the eastern Caribbean as Tropical Storm Emily raced across the Atlantic Ocean.

Residents of Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia and Grenada, which was devastated by Hurricane Ivan last year, were told they could be facing hurricane conditions within 36 hours.

The government of energy-rich Trinidad and Tobago issued a tropical storm watch for the island of Tobago.

Emily, the fifth tropical storm or hurricane of the busy Atlantic season, formed late on Monday and by 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) on Tuesday was about 575 miles east-southeast of Barbados, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Sustained winds had grown to 50 mph (80 kph) and the storm was moving to the west at about 20 mph (32 kph).

Forecasters said Emily could reach hurricane strength, with 74 mph (119 kph) winds, by the time it reaches the Windward Islands, on the eastern rim of the Caribbean Sea, by late Wednesday or early Thursday.

Hurricane Ivan damaged 90 percent of Grenada's housing when it hit the tiny island last September. It caused $2.2 billion in damage, more than double the island's annual economic output, and officials said it would take Grenada 10 years to fully recover.

Emily follows hot on the heels of Hurricane Dennis, which rampaged through the Caribbean and then slammed into the U.S. Gulf Coast on Sunday.

Source: REUTERS

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