Hurricane Dorian is expected to strengthen into a major hurricane over the next few days and could be headed toward the east coast of Florida.
As of 11 a.m. ET, the National Hurricane Center reported that the Category 1 storm was 370 miles east of the southeastern Bahamas, moving northwest at about 13 miles per hour, with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour.
Dorian is expected to strengthen to at least a Category 3 storm before potentially making landfall on the U.S. mainland over the Labor Day weekend. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency for the counties on the east coast of the Sunshine State that are projected to be in the storm's path.
The National Weather Service has not yet issued any coastal watches or warnings for the U.S. mainland or the Bahamas.
Dorian battered the U.S. Virgin Islands, causing power outages and flooding. Puerto Rico, still recovering from 2017's Hurricane Maria, was spared the brunt of the storm.
Forecasters said the storm is expected to take a west-northwest track during the night of Aug. 30 and continue into the weekend. The central Bahamas may see between 1 and 2 inches of rain, while the northwestern Bahamas are expected to get 3 to 6 inches. Coastal sections of the southeast U.S. could get 4 to 8 inches of rainfall from the storm, with isolated totals of 12 inches.
