WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Hurricane Maria intensified into a Category-2 storm Monday as it is expected to continue strengthening on track to barrel across the eastern Caribbean.
The center of Maria was about 135 km east of Martinique and 195 km east-southeast of Dominica, with maximum sustained winds of 175 km, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory Monday morning.
The storm was moving west-northwest near 19 km per hour, the advisory said.
"Additional rapid strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours," the hurricane center warned.
A hurricane warning, which means hurricane conditions are possible within 48 hours, has been issued for Guadeloupe, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis and the British island of Montserrat, Martinique and St. Lucia. Tropical storm warning is in effect for Antigua and Barbuda.
The agency said a dangerous storm surge accompanied by large and destructive waves will raise water levels by as much as 1.5 to 2.1 meters above normal tie levels when it cuts its path across the eastern Caribbean.
It is also expected to produce total rain accumulations of 15 to 30 centimeters with isolated maximum of 50 centimeters across the central and southern Leeward Islands, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands.
Maria is taking aim at the vulnerable islands region that is still coping with the devastation caused earlier this month by Hurricane Irma, one of the strongest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic basin, which has killed up to 81 in the Caribbean and southern United States.
