Atlantic storm off Carolinas to head to Canada

Chris, the third storm of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season, was named Sunday as it gained strength off the coast of the Carolinas. The storm is forecast to intensify into a hurricane over the next several days but remain off the coast before zipping off toward Newfoundland late in the week.

The storm, 150 miles south of Cape Hatteras, was packing maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. It was nearly stationary, and little movement is expected through Tuesday. As a result, it is forecast to continue generating life-threatening waves and rip currents for the Mid-Atlantic beaches. A man died in the rough surf in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, on Saturday, when Chris was still a tropical depression.

Because the storm is positioned over very warm ocean waters, it is forecast to steadily strengthen over the next 72 hours and become a hurricane Tuesday or Wednesday. At that point, a cold front should absorb Chris and rapidly sweep it to the north-northeast toward Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. It should gradually weaken as it moves over cooler water.

Far to the south on Sunday, tropical storm Beryl disintegrated as it zipped toward the eastern Caribbean, where forecasters still warned of heavy rains on islands struggling to recover from last year’s deadly hurricanes.

The government of Dominica said it would shut down its water system, and Puerto Rico’s governor warned of likely new power outages. People on islands across the region stocked up on food and water and prepared for possible damaging winds, rains and waves.

Intermittent rainstorms were already hitting Dominica, and the U.S. National Hurricane Center said 2 to 3 inches of rain could fall as the storm’s remnants moved over or near the mountainous island Sunday night.

Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit told people to store water because of the precautionary shutdown of the water system, and he warned them to stay alert and respect an island-wide curfew to remain indoors.

“We have to continue to take the situation very seriously,” he said in a public address. “Move now. Go to your relatives. ... Go to the shelters.”

Meteorologist Marshall Alexander told The Associated Press that officials were worried about people still living with tarps on their roofs after Hurricane Maria slammed into Dominica as a Category 5 storm last year, killing dozens of people.

“We are in a vulnerable state,” he said.

Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello said at a news conference Sunday afternoon that the island could experience power outages when the storm’s remnants passed over on Monday. He also urged people without sturdy roofs to move in with relatives or one of 24 government shelters that have opened. More than 1,500 power customers remain in the dark more than nine months after Maria, and about 60,000 people still have only tarps for roofs.

“I’m praying for all the brothers who are still living under a plastic roof,” said Alfonso Lugo in the southeastern Puerto Rico town of Humacao. “They’re the ones who are suffering the most now. They’re the ones who have been forgotten.”

Lugo lost his roof and two walls to Maria and was waiting for volunteers to secure his new roof before Beryl.