ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada (AP):
TROPICAL STORM Earl unleashed heavy rains and violent winds that felled trees and ripped off roofs yesterday in the eastern Caribbean, while hundreds of people sought refuge in shelters.
Several hundred people fled their homes in low-lying areas of Grenada and moved to shelters set up in schools, said Sylvan McIntyre, chief of the island's emergency agency.
Earl's path could take it anywhere between Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula or Belize to the east-central Gulf of Mexico in four to five days, a meteorologist said, adding that Jamaica and parts of Cuba also might feel the effects before then, though it remained too early to say.
Winds tore off at least 13 roofs throughout Grenada and flooding was reported in western Grenada, McIntyre said. One nursing home also was evacuated, and more than 30 residents were moved to a shelter. No injuries were reported.
In nearby St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said winds tore the roofs off at least two homes and caused minor damage to banana crops, while some residents fled their homes for shelters.
Airports reopened after being temporarily closed for several hours in St. Vincent and Grenada. Shopkeepers nailed boards over their windows before the powerful winds and rains reached Grenada's capital of St. George's.
The tropical storm, the fifth of the Atlantic season, could strengthen to a hurricane in the coming days over the open Caribbean Sea, said Jamie Rhome, a meteorologist at the U.S. National Hurricane Centre in Miami. If it does reach hurricane strength with winds of at least 74 mph (119 kph) it would be the season's third hurricane.
