Ophelia strengthens as it beats path to Ireland

Hurricane poses threat to farms, Trump golf course.

Hurricane Ophelia strengthened as it bears down on Ireland, threatening everything from farms to a golf course owned by the family of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Ophelia turned into a “rare” category 3 hurricane, the sixth major hurricane of the 2017 season, 220 miles south of the Azores, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory at 4 p.m. London time. It is the most eastern category 3 Atlantic hurricane on record, according to the U.K.’s Met Office.

The system is moving northeast at 25 miles per hour with top winds of 115 mph, according to the NHC. It is expected to start weakening Saturday night or today.

“Ophelia is still expected to remain a powerful cyclone with hurricane force winds for the next couple of days as it approaches Ireland,” the NHC said.

After Hurricane Irma closed Trump’s Mar-A-Lago in Florida last month, Ophelia could make landfall close to the Trump family’s golf resort near the village of Doonbeg early next week. The resort, which has said it can lose as much as 10 meters of land to coastal erosion during a bad storm, is along the route expected to be hit by Ophelia’s gale force winds. Trump International Golf Links & Hotel is constantly reviewing the situation, a spokesman said by email.

Ireland’s Met Eireann issued a red wind warning, its highest level, for five counties for Monday, with an orange warning in place for the rest of the nation.

Ophelia could become the strongest post-tropical system to rake Ireland since Hurricane Debbie in 1961, which killed 18 people and stripped almost 25 percent of the trees in some areas, according to Weather Underground.