The Tribune

FEARS that a new weather nightmare is racing towards The Bahamas eased a little yesterday - but a tropical storm could still reach the country later in the week.

The potential storm was last night still some distance to the east in the Atlantic, but senior meteorologist Rob Miller, at Accuweather, said that it had not become a depression yet, but was on the verge of becoming one.

He said that it was forecast to become a depression during last night, before moving through the Leeward Islands today, passing near Puerto Rico on Thursday and then aiming towards The Bahamas.

"There's some uncertainty whether this goes north of the island then tracks close to Hispaniola and maybe even Cuba," he said, "or some hints it can go closer to the east and maybe even bypass The Bahamas completely to the east - while there are even some paths that it could take that go past Hispaniola and south of Cuba. A wide range of where this can go."

That said, he warned that there was a risk of heavy rains throughout The Bahamas, especially the central and north Bahamas on Friday and Saturday.

He said: "Worst case scenario is that it's an actual tropical storm moving through The Bahamas with some sustained winds, 40 to 50mph, and some higher wind gusts. Best case is it goes farther south and west with some heavier rains and really not too many concerns with that."

At best, if the storm does not become as organised, The Bahamas could be affected by up to three inches of rain on Friday and Saturday. If it becomes a storm, that could reach five inches with some flooding, A strong tropical storm, with winds of up to 60mph could see power outages and tree damage.

Mr Miller said that the storm "probably stays a weaker system" and said it is likely "nothing even close to what Dorian did".

As the storm watch continued, the government yesterday updated its list of hurricane shelters.