Hurricane Erin intensified to a Category 5 storm in the Caribbean within 24 hours, with winds reaching 160 mph.

Officials in the northern Caribbean are warning of heavy rains and dangerous swells as Tropical Storm Erin approaches the region.

Erin is within a day of becoming the first Atlantic hurricane of the 2025 season. It does not pose an immediate threat to Louisiana.

Erin has strengthened into a hurricane as it approaches Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, bringing heavy rains that could cause flooding and landslides.

Though Erin is not currently forecast to make landfall in the U.S., the East Coast could still get heavy rainfall associated with the storm, along with the northern Leeward Islands, the British Virgin Islands and southern and eastern Puerto Rico. Isolated flash flooding, landslides and mudslides are possible.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Tropical Storm Erin is churning in the Atlantic Ocean and moving toward the Caribbean, likely to become the season’s first hurricane, a storm with sustained winds above 74 miles per hour.