While the compact hurricane's center wasn't expected to strike land, it threatened to dump flooding rains on the northeast Caribbean as it continued to grow larger.

It quickly powered up from a tropical storm to a Category 5 in a single day, the National Hurricane Center said.

The Atlantic’s first hurricane of the season had maximum sustained winds of 160 miles per hour, forecasters said.

The first Atlantic hurricane of 2025, Erin is not expected to hit land but could trigger flash flooding, landslides and mudslides in parts of the Caribbean.

Hurricane Erin rapidly intensified from a tropical storm to a dangerous Category 5 hurricane in just 24 hours.

Erin is now a Category 3 hurricane with outer rainbands producing gusty winds and heavy rains across the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

Hurricane Erin rapidly exploded overnight from a Category 3 storm to a massive Category 5 and is expected to strengthen further as it curves north between the U.S. East Coast and Bermuda this upcoming week, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane Erin becomes a ‘catastrophic’ Category 5, tracking north of Bahamas – Nation and World News | West Hawaii Today

Hurricane Erin rapidly intensified into an extremely dangerous Category 5 cyclone as it stayed safely north of the Caribbean islands over the weekend.

Erin is expected to produce life-threatening surf and rip currents to the Atlantic coast from Florida to Canada. Erin became the Atlantic season's first hurricane as expected late Aug. 15, then exploded into a Category 5 storm Aug.