Jerry has strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center’s latest advisory.
The storm is the 10th named storm of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season, and follows Hurricane Humberto and Tropical Storm Imelda, the remnants of which are causing flooding in southeastern Texas on Thursday.
Hurricane Jerry had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph – just barely Category 1 level – as of 11 a.m. Thursday. At that time, the storm was about 490 miles east of the Leeward Islands and headed west-northwest at 16 mph, the hurricane center said.
The storm was expected to pass just north of the Leeward Islands on Friday, though tropical storm-force winds and heavy rainfall were possible. The storm would then pass north of Puerto Rico on Saturday and the southeastern Bahamas on Sunday, the hurricane center said.
Tropical storm watches were in effect for Barbuda, Anguilla, St. Maarten, St. Martin, St. Barthelemy, Saba and St. Eustatius, the center said in its advisory. Jerry was forecast to strengthen later Thursday before starting to weaken this weekend.
CNN’s Christina Maxouris contributed to this report.