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Caribbean nations are bracing for the second powerful storm in as many weeks as Hurricane Maria approaches.
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The tropical storm has been upgraded to a Category 1 by the National Hurricane Center, NHC, and is forecast to hit the Leeward Islands on Monday night.
Maria is approaching the eastern Caribbean less than two weeks after Irma pummeled the region before hitting Florida.
That Category 4 storm killed at least 84 people, more than half of them in the Caribbean.
Several islands remain devastated, with most habitable buildings destroyed.
The Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, held a news conference outlining the nation's disaster preparations as a hurricane warning was put in place.
All schools will be closed, government meetings have been cancelled and businesses are being advised to stay shut.
(New) Sept. 17 - Pre Hurricane Maria Press Conference - Roosevelt Skerrit Press Conference https://t.co/Qis8BjduSA on #SoundCloud
— Roosevelt Skerrit (@SkerritR) 17 September 2017
Shelters and supplies are being readied and all emergency personnel have been recalled.
Citzens in vulnerable areas are being advised to use the shelters or stay with relatives and friends.
Skerrit says particular attention must be paid to the ongoing advice from the Office of Disaster Management.
"Maria ... could be near major hurricane intensity when it affects portions of the Leeward Islands over the next few days, bringing dangerous wind, storm surge and rainfall hazards," the NHC said.
Maximum sustained winds were expected to accelerate to over 190 kilometers per hour miles per hour within 72 hours, by which time the hurricane could reach the British and U.S. Virgin Islands as well as Puerto Rico.
The Puerto Rican government is making preparations before the storm which could make landfall there on Tuesday
Hurricane warnings were in place for the French island of Guadeloupe, Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat, while a hurricane watch was in effect for U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, St. Martin and St. Barthelemy, and Anguilla.
A tropical storm warning was in effect for Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia and Martinique.
The NHS also issued a tropical storm watch for portions of the U.S. mid-Atlantic and New England coast by Tuesday as a second hurricane, Jose, moved slowly north from its current position in the Atlantic Ocean.
By Tuesday it could bring tropical storm conditions from Fenwick Island, Delaware, to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and from East Rockaway Inlet on New York's Long Island to the Massachusetts island of Nantucket.
Up to five inches of rain could fall over parts of the area, and the storm could bring dangerous surf and rip currents as well.
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