Tropical Storm Danny weakens as it reaches Caribbean

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Tropical Storm Danny weakened Sunday and was poised to bring winds and rainfall to parts of the Caribbean.

Sunday
evening, the center of the storm was located about 165 miles east-southeast of Guadeloupe. It was moving toward the west
near 16 mph. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said it
would move to west-northwest through Tuesday.

Danny was expected to move near or over portions of the Leeward Islands late Sunday or early Monday.

Maximum sustained winds were near 40 mph with higher gusts. The storm was expected to lose strength.

The hurricane center said tropical-storm-force winds were expected to affect Guadeloupe and nearby islands through late Sunday. Danny
was forecast to produce 2 inches to 4 inches of rain over the Leeward
Islands, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico through
Tuesday.

Forecasters said the storm would become a tropical
depression before reaching Puerto Rico, bringing little relief to the
drought-stricken U.S. territory.

Nearly 25 percent of Puerto Rico
is considered to be in an extreme drought, and another 45 percent is
under a severe one, according to The National Drought Mitigation Center.
A total of 2.9 million people in Puerto Rico have been affected, and
U.S. officials have declared at least 20 of the island’s 78
municipalities as disaster zones.

U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp said officials had opened shelters as a precaution.

The
approaching storm forced Antigua-based airline LIAT to cancel nearly 40
flights from Sunday to Tuesday, and officials with regional carrier
Seaborne Airlines also warned of delays and cancelations. Several cruise
ships scheduled to visit the U.S. Virgin Islands have canceled or
delayed their trips.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for
Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla. A tropical
storm watch was in effect for Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Maarten,
Puerto Rico, Vieques, Culebra and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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