International

Hurricane Earl battered tiny islands across the northeastern Caribbean with heavy rain and damaging winds on Monday, rapidly intensifying into a major Category 4 storm on a path projected to hit the United States this weekend.

In the Caribbean, Earl caused flooding in low-lying areas and damaged homes on islands including Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla and St. Maarten.

The rapid development of Earl, which only became a hurricane on Sunday, took some islanders and tourists by surprise.

See the video below...

Hurricane warnings and watches stretched from North Carolina to Delaware and covered parts of Massachusetts on Wednesday as forecasters upgraded Hurricane Earl to a Category 4 storm and warned it will be approaching the East Coast by late Thursday.

Hurricane models have Earl passing close to North Carolina's Outer Banks on Thursday night, the National Hurricane Center said in an 8 p.m. Wednesday forecast. "Only a small westward deviation of the track to the west would bring the core of the hurricane to the coast," it said.

Tropical Storm Fiona formed in the exact same area as Earl and is travelling on the exact same path as him - so how come one tropical depression becomes a major hurricane and the other a weak storm?

Well, it's all to do with the first tropical depression - the one that became Hurricane Earl.

Earl had nothing but warm waters and perfect air conditions in front of him.  The warm waters fuelled his energy levels while the atmosphere he was moving through was kind to him, giving him the perfect conditions to rotate and grow.

Danielle last week, Earl and Fiona this week and now it looks as though as many as three other Atlantic tropical storms may be lining up to take off.

WeatherWatch.co.nz has identified at least three tropical waves - areas of severe thunderstorm activity which come off the hot, dry, African desert.

Just 48 hours behind Intense Hurricane Earl, category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, Tropical Storm Fiona is about to hit the same islands Earl hit on Tuesday (NZT).

Earl, with sustained winds of 215km/h and gusts much higher, is now moving towards the eastern United States.  The storm is likely to cause coastal damage and may create problems as far north as New York and into eastern Canada.

WeatherWatch.co.nz has provided a link to the live rain radar showing Hurricane Earl passing over the Leeward Islands.

Unlike New Zealand these radar images are updated every 15 minutes to really give you a good understanding as to what is happening.

Click the image below to animate...

Image: Screenshot from one of the videos showing a boat being slammed onto the beach.

Category 4 Hurricane Earl has slammed into the Virgin Islands and Leeward Islands today.

Here are the latest eyewitness videos from the main areas affected at this early stage.

This video has been around for a few years but it's a great one to share.

It's of a 747 taking off during a thunderstorm and being struck by lightning. 

The plane continues on safely after the strike - planes are built to be hit by lightning and most jets are struck each year causing just minor damage to rivets which are quickly repaired.

UPDATED

Six named tropical storms are this morning roaring across the northern hemisphere, two are impacting land and a third may well do later in the week.

Hurricane Earl has strengthened to a Category 2 storm and forecasters are predicting it will become a major category 3 or 4 hurricane within the next 24 hours - and it's heading for populated tropical islands.

Tonight (early Monday morning local time) the storm is passing close to the Leeward Islands, which is the home to Puerto Rico, a nation home to 4 million people.